Zodiac
by Deceptioning
Summary: The Fourteen Clans of the Zodiac protected Konoha from the shadows, and now, Naruto is part of the Zodiac. With a new-found family, watch as Naruto strives to prove himself to the Shinobi World.
1. The Meeting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way possible. Enjoy**

Konoha, once the proud home to the world's strongest ninjas, now a shadow of its past glory. People from strong clans now became too arrogant, the numbers of strong ninjas decreased, and ninja standards lowered. Not only were people blinded by power, they were blind to the truth, and led by their fears. Today was no different, screams were heard, threats were being made, and a kid was being chased. That kid was Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of the nine tailed fox Kyuubi, which is sealed in his stomach.

Naruto however, did not know about his secret tenant, and never knew why he was hated by the majority of the village. He only knew a few facts, people hated him, and if he didn't run, he'd be dead.

Naruto screamed in terror as he ran from the countless hordes of people chasing him with all sorts of weapons ranging from swords to even a piece of broken glass. Naruto ran for his life as kunais were being thrown at him, some hitting him dead on the legs, Naruto gave a scream of pain and fell down to the floor. The ninja gave a shout of joy, "I got the demon!" and threw another kunai that struck Naruto in the back, much to the crowds delight.

Naruto struggled to crawl away, and was rewarded with a kunai in both hands. He screamed in pain and just laid there, unable to move away. He pleaded with the crowd, "Please, what did I ever do to deserve this?"

One civilian gave a short laugh, "Hah! Don't act like you don't know! Die you demon!" He jumped towards Naruto, sword in hand, and was ready to drive it through his head when a figure in the shadows disarmed the civilian, grabbed Naruto, and disappeared in a pile of leaves.

The mob gave a shout of disappointment and then one civilian spoke up from the back, "Is he dead?"

* * *

><p><strong>[Changing time and place]<strong>

Naruto gave a small groggy sound and the shot up with a yelp. He whipped his head around to see his surroundings, and then noticed a man sitting in a corner in the room, the man noticed Naruto was awake, and gave a smile. He knocked on the door and whispered out a few words. The door slammed open, and thirteen other people walked in. Naruto instinctively gave a scream and was prepared to run when the man held out both arms, "We are not here to harm you Naruto-sama."

Naruto stared at the man who spoke, "Naruto-sama? I don't get it; first, I'm a demon to people, now you guys are calling me your master?"

The man smiled, and replied, "That is because you are the next heir to the Kitsuko Clan, otherwise known as the Fox cat clan."

"The Fox Cat clan? What kind of clan is that?" Naruto asked, disbelief on his face.

The man smiled once again, "The Kitsuko Clan is a part of the thirteen clans and the servants to the head clan, the Etoshin. The Etoshin clan is in charge of maintaining balance between the clans, serving as the head of all of us, and to guide us."

"There is fourteen clans total; the Nezuchi (Rat Weasel), the Ushigyu (Ox Buffalo), the Toraion (Tiger Lion), the Usaku (Rabbit Jackrabbit), the Tatsoge (Dragon Lizard), the Hebunda (Snake Anaconda), the Umarobi (Horse Donkey), the Hitsagi (Ram Goat), the Sarurira (Monkey Gorilla), the Ondotori (Rooster Bird),the Inufu (Dog Wolf), the Inoshibuta (Boar Pig), the Kitsuko (Fox Cat), and the head clan, the Etoshin (Zodiac God)."

Naruto's eye twitched as he struggled to remember the information that was given to him, "And whats so special of each clan besides the head clan Etoshin or whatever?" He asked.

The man shook his head, "I am sorry, but that is not a piece of information I can tell you, if you insist on learning however, you may ask someone from the clan you wish to know about. As for now, we shall take you to our clan compound, where you can see where you can live and get to know about your clan more."

* * *

><p><strong>[Changing time and place]<strong>

Naruto was thinking, this was a huge impact on him, he had lived his whole life as an orphan, and now he finds out he's the leader of a clan, one he never even heard about in his painful life. Naruto had always hoped he'd find family, and now, he had found it; hope swelled up inside of him as he began to dream about what life will be like starting from now on.

Naruto and the man arrived at a compound where people greeted them nicely and respectfully opened a path for them to walk through. Naruto stared at them with amazement, and the older man only just nodded his head at them. They continued walking into the compound until they arrived at the main hall of the place. The man opened the door and beckoned him inside.

Naruto walked inside the room and gasped at the room's content, "Holy crap that's a lot of books!" he screamed.

The man closed the door behind him and smiled, "Yes, it is our clan library as well as books from many other sources, I had a feeling you would want to know about the clan you will one day lead."

Naruto gaped at him, "You were being serious? I have to lead this clan? How do you know I'm really a part of this clan? No one knows who my parents are, I'm pretty sure I don't have any bloodline traits like Sasuke-teme does!"

The man stared at Naruto, and then said, "I have complete confidence that you are who I said you are, we may not have a doujutsu like the Uchiha's Sharigan or the Hyuuga's Byakugan, but we do have doujutsus that are unique to only us. You, my young boy, have not unlocked your bloodline yet, if you read up on our clan's bloodline, I am sure you will unlock it soon. Now, I will take my leave now, if you ever get hungry, the kitchen is to the down the hall and to the left, good bye now and good luck Naruto."

Naruto stared at the door, and when the door fully closed, did Naruto rush towards the shelves, looking for any book that would help him, "One hundred and one cooking recipes, Guide to training your pet cat, fox, and dog? What kind of training will this help me with?" he muttered. The door opened and a head poked in, "I forgot to tell you, the shinobi section is on the other side, you're in the household section, just head deeper in the room and you'll be there." The head pointed out, and backed out the door faster than it had appeared.

The young boy slapped his head and muttered out a string of incoherent words and set himself back on the task he set for himself. He walked towards the back of the library, and pulled out a book from the shelf, "_The History of Each of the Zodiac Clan_." Naruto's eyes gleamed and he whispered out one word from his lips as he cracked open the book, "Jackpot."

* * *

><p><em>The Zodiac clans first started when Tengoku Senshi, first leader of the Etoshin, held a small celebration in his home, the village of the whirlpool, and invited thirteen of his friends. After greetings were exchanged, gifts were given, and food was eaten, they had begun to talk. They lived in a time of peace, but they knew that times were changing, the Era of Ninjas had begun, and ninjas had replaced warriors and samurais, Tengoku had proposed that they should combine all the clans together into one huge one in order to protect themselves from future danger, "Peace cannot be held without trust and friendship," he said, and with that statement, began the Etoshin clan.<em>

_The bonded clans then became a force to be feared from enemies, and admired from friends, but for it was worth, it was not enough, The Village of the Whirlpool collapsed, leaving the clans without a home. They wandered around the countries, looking for a place to call home, slowly, one person at a time collapsed to starvation, exhaustion, and lack of will. Finally, they had arrived at the Fire Country, where construction on a Hidden Village had just finally finished. Tengoku negotiated with the leader, Hashirama Senju for a place to stay, not only did Hashirama allowed the clans to live in Konoha, as they called it, he gave the clans a compound that was more than enough to last them for hundreds of years. _

_As Konoha prospered, so did the clans, many were happy that such a strong clan was protecting Konoha, but one clan had grown jealous and angry of their powers, The Uchiha Clan, holders of the Sharigan, had quietly held their anger in, but one day, they cracked. Many Uchihas led an attack on the Etoshin Compound, and had started to burn the place down; the attack would have succeeded, if one of the Uchiha members, Meiyo Uchiha had not reported to the Shodaime Hokage about the revolt. Quickly, the leader of Konoha sent a message to the target clan, and the Etoshin Clan responded with a nearly invincible defense, every Uchiha that had tried to break through, had failed and ended up being knocked unconscious, and then only to wake up later in a jail cell._

_After the last Uchiha was captured, the Etoshin clan had realized how as long as the Uchiha clan existed, their clan would not be safe, and with the Hokage's permission, placed an S ranked Genjutsu on the compound, so if an outsider were to look at it, they would only see an old compound that was rotting, and if they were to approach it, they would have a sudden compulsion to go away. However, that was not enough, as surviving Uchiha members would target Etoshin members when they had missions. The Etoshin then had the members split into different branches, and each assumed a different clan name. _

_The Etoshin clan was masters of Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, they were also knowledgeable in Politics, so they were usually the ones who represented the fourteen clans as a whole at Council Meetings._

_The first clan to split was the Nezuchi Clan; they were the most loyal, and the strategists of the clan. The Nezuchi clan specialized in infiltration and intelligence missions, their intelligence networks was one of the world's best._

_The second clan to split was the Ushigyu Clan; every single Ushigyu's strength was equal to five normal ninjas. Their strength was beyond the average ninja and they were usually part of the Konoha's frontline ninjas. Due to their extreme strength, they are also master weapon creators that can create weapons of any kind and are top class in quality._

_The third clan to split was the Toraion Clan; every member of this clan had a strong sense of leadership and would never willingly leave behind a friend. Not only were they filled with courage, they would never back down to a challenge, as they were very prideful._

_The fourth clan to split was the Usaku Clan; they may not have been the strongest of the fourteen clans, but they were the fastest, and were usually trusted with missions that involved messages or deliveries. _

_The fifth clan to split was the Tatsoge Clan; this clan had the most Chakra, so they could easily use Ninjutsu for hours and only be slightly out of breath. Like the Uchiha Clan, they favored the fire affinity, and used it as their main type of Ninjutsu, however, they could easily use other types of ninjutsu, but fire was the most effective and easiest for them to execute._

_The sixth clan to split was the Hebunda Clan; the Hebunda clan was known for their special poisons that served multiple choices. Their poisons could either kill a person quickly and painlessly, or kill them after hours of excruciating pain. Poison was not their only specialty however; they were medics that were second to none. _

_The seventh clan to split was the Umarobi Clan; the Umarobi clan was renowned for their almost everlasting stamina, each person could fight for three days straight feeling minimal fatigue. Their enhanced leg strength enabled them to be slightly faster than the normal shinobi, but not as fast as their friends, the Usaku._

_The eighth clan to split was the Hitsagi Clan; they were masters of fighting in any type of scenario on any type of terrain. As long as they had the stamina to fight, they could fight their way out of the majority of fights._

_The ninth clan to split was the Sarurira Clan; this clan specialized in taijutsu, their flexibility allowed them to master many taijutsu styles. The Sarurira mainly used the Mori no Hana Style, the Umi no Nami Style, and the Sora Kumo Style, each was deadly in a way and the leader of the Sarurira would only be considered if only they had mastered the three styles, and two other styles._

_The tenth clan to split was the Ondotori Clan; the Ondotori was not the ideal taijutsu or ninjutsu ninja, but they boast an impeccable knowledge of all ranged weapons. Ranging from ninja stars to chakrams, these shinobi has mastered it all. The Ondotori was rumored to have a hit percentage of Ninety five or more._

_The eleventh clan to split was the Inufu Clan; these shinobi were the best of all tracker units, and had enhanced nose senses. They had also a small sixth sense, and like the Inuzuka Clan, they had dog companions accompany them._

_The twelfth clan to split was the Inoshibuta Clan; the Inoshibuta clan was one of the weaker clans, but what they lacked in strength, they made up with their knowledge of anything edible. They can instantly tell by glance if a plant was poisonous, or if it was edible or not, however, they were also quite knowledgeable in some Taijutsu._

_The thirteenth and last clan the split was the Kitsuko Clan. Although they were not part of the twelve zodiacs, they were as loyal as any other clan. The Kitsuko Clan specialized in Genjutsu, their illusions were hard to break, and were almost always undetected. Most Kitsuko shinobi became assassins, as their stealth skills were unrivaled and their super hearing could detect the target and any other human in a quarter mile radius._

_The thirteen clans still follow the Etoshin Clan, but they do it discreetly, so that no Uchiha followers or survivors would find out that they were once part of the Etoshins. The thirteen clans acted as the arms and eyes of the Etoshin, and never once did the Etoshin venture out of their compound besides during Council Meetings. Even now, very few ninjas even in Konoha have heard of the Etoshin clan or the connection of the thirteen clans. Those who did know however have sworn a blood oath to never reveal what they know unless any of the fourteen clans allow it._"

* * *

><p>Naruto shut the book shut with a sigh, and put his hands on his face, "Oh man, this sounds too good to be true, one day I'm an orphan with no idea who my parents are or if I have any relatives living, and now I'm actually the heir to a super strong clan!" he said.<p>

He set the book aside and dashed towards the shelf, and searched for a specific book about his clan, his eyes scanned the shelves slowly, looking over each and every single binding and then he stopped at one book in the middle of the shelf, he grabbed the book, and read the title, _"The Kitsuko Clan, Summoners of the Fox and Cats."_

"_I guess I should start with my clan first," _Naruto thought to himself, he sat comfortably on the chair next to him and cracked open the book.

_The Kitsuko clan is a clan of stealth and illusions, these two main strengths and a few other traits make them as desirable assassins or spies. Their illusions have always been almost unbreakable except to the extremely strong willed ninjas or shinobis belonging to a clan that specializes in doujutsu, like the Hyuuga and the Sharigan._

_The Kitsuko can summon both the Fox and Cat clans; the Fox tribe specializes in Illusions and fire, while the Cats specialize in stealth and darkness. Only can the clan leader summon both at the same time, as the Cats and Fox clan can take up a lot of chakra when used simultaneously and both clans can be hard to deal with at the same time, anyone else besides the leader will have to choose one._

_The Kitsuko clan members have the ability to sense genjutsu when it's being casted, and disrupt it easily as if it was a D ranked Genjutsu. They do not have a certain Taijutsu stance, as they use whatever that works at that moment, but shinobi's that have underwent an intense training can use the Cat stance which allows their instincts to become like a cat and act like one as well. Ninjutsus are of second nature to them, as they also have a large supply of Chakra to throw around, but, they are famous for using dark based ninjutsu such as_ **Yami no sekai (Dark World) **_which causes the target and anyone in a ten foot radius besides the caster and allies to be thrown into a world of pure black._

_If you are part of the Kitsuko Clan, and have not yet received your choice of summons, please sign your name in blood in the scroll below._

Naruto stared at the last page, and then look down, on his lap, was a scroll, "Oh crap!" Naruto screamed, and jumped out of his seat. Fortunately, no one had heard him, so he was spared from embarrassment. Examining the scroll closely, Naruto picked it up, and then unraveled it, inside, was two Kanjis; 猫and 狐.

Naruto stared at the kanjis, and then the doors opened, the mysterious man was back, he stared at Naruto, and then at the scroll he was carrying, he gave a smile and exclaimed, "You and your mother are so much alike! Always was she in a rush to learn new techniques."

Naruto whipped his head towards the man in shock, everyone he had asked didn't know who his parents were, and now this guy was comparing them both? "You know who my mom was? Tell me please!" Naruto begged, the man walked towards the boy, and patted his head, "Your mother was a great ninja who went by the name Kushina Uzumaki, in Konoha, she was known as the Red Phantom. Enemy shinobis that went against her always said that they only saw a red haired ninja, and then the shape would vanish in a second just to appear behind them and knock them out."

Naruto jumped up and down, "Is she still alive?"

The man's smile dropped, and he gave a shook of the head, "Im sorry, she died the day you were born."

Naruto's eyes teared up with this knowledge, and he gave a sniff, "Well then, who are you mister, and how do you know so much about me? He asked.

The man thought for a moment, and then responded, "I am Fuzakeru Kitsuko, the older brother of your late mother, also the head of the Kitsuko Clan. In other words, I am your uncle."

Naruto's eyes widened, and then tackled his newly discovered uncle with a hug, "I finally found a relative!" He exclaimed, hugging Fuzakeru for his life's worth.

Fuzakeru smiled down at him, and then remembered why he had come back, "Seeing how you are excited about your new found family and clan, how would you like to learn the arts of the Kitsuko Clan Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto whipped his head back and gave nods so fast the man thought his head would snap off. Fuzakeru laughed and said, "Well then, let's go!" Naruto grabbed his uncle's arm and proceeded to drag him out the door; his uncle gave another laugh and quickly grabbed the summoning scroll Naruto had been holding before it was too late.

* * *

><p>Fuzakeru led Naruto to a dojo that was very big, and had the words, <strong>"Taijutsu Only Dojo"<strong>. Naruto looked up at the sign, and asked, "Is this the place?"

The man shook his head and pointed to another Dojo, this time, the sign above it had said, **"Anything Goes Dojo."**

Naruto's eyes widened at the prospect of him learning new techniques instead of only learning Taijutsu, and dashed into the dojo yelling out in joy.

Fuzakeru walked in, and curiously watched as Naruto ran around the room, stopping at a few spots, and then continued to run around. Fuzakeru smiled and call out, "Naruto, you can't learn if you're not paying attention!" Naruto instantaneously disappeared from the other side of the dojo and reappeared right in front of him, starring at his mentor with an excited face.

Fuzakeru assumed a taijutsu stance, and beckoned Naruto to attack him; Naruto gave a whoop of joy and rushed at him recklessly. Naruto threw a punch, expecting for it to hit but Fuzakeru grabbed the punch, and pulled Naruto towards him. Naruto yelped as he flew forward, and threw out another punch, desperate to evade a physical hit from the teacher. Fuzakeru smiled and grabbed the second punch with his left arm and fell down towards the earth.

Naruto fell down along with the man when suddenly he felt two legs hit him in the stomach lightly, and then the legs kicked him over the man, sending Naruto airborne. Fuzakeru did a back roll and then jumped towards Naruto's landing spot, and grabbed him, breaking Naruto's fall.

"Are you alright Naruto?" he asked, Naruto gave a quick nod as he jumped out of his arms and gave a shout, eager to learn more.

The uncle gave a chuckle and then assumed another stance. Naruto rushed towards him again, and gave a kick this time, Fuzakeru responded by blocking it with his own foot, and then hooking onto Naruto's leg, he flipped him over, and then grabbed Naruto's leg that was now in the air, prepared to smash him down onto the floor like how a person with a club would smash down onto a person's head.

Naruto's hand slammed down onto the floor, and with a grunt, he forced his legs to break out of his uncle's grip and back flipped away. _"Okay, so I can't rush at him, and it always seems like he's using my own attacks against me, so what if I used his attacks against himself?"_ Thought Naruto.

Naruto stood still, waiting for the other to attack, his uncle rushed at Naruto, aware of the sudden change of tactics. He lashed out at him, throwing a right punch towards the chest. Naruto prepared to grab the punch and trip him, but then Fuzakeru stomped his foot onto Naruto's foot, causing Naruto to scream out in pain and instantly forgetting to guard against the blow. The fist met with Naruto's chest and sent him flying.

"I wasn't expecting that" Naruto grunted.

"Expect the unexpected," Fuzakeru whispered from behind, and kicked him towards the middle, Naruto gave another scream as he was once again sent hurtling towards another part of the room. Fuzakeru appeared in front of Naruto and kicked him up into the air, and grabbed onto both of Naruto's arm. He began to spin, faster and faster he went until they both were a blur, and then he let go.

Naruto plummeted towards the floor with great force, but Naruto grabbed onto his assaulter's hand and pulled on it, making their roles reversed.

Naruto also began to spin, leg outstretched, and when Fuzakeru landed onto the floor, he had to dodge the spinning Axe kick that was threatening to leave him with a concussion at the worst.

"Very good Naruto, you're already improving." He called out to him.

"Im about to get a lot better, believe it!" Naruto yelled back.

Naruto jumped towards him, right hand getting ready for a strike to the head. He was about to strike with the right hand when he turned and delivered a side kick aimed rather well précised at the rib. Fuzakeru brought his leg up to block the incoming attack, and then proceeded to deliver a swift chop onto Naruto's head.

The hand chop hit Naruto's head directly, resulting in Naruto heading down towards the floor. Naruto hit the floor, but instead of staying down, he dove in between the legs of his uncle, and jumped back up. Naruto's elbow flew back, aiming towards the unprotected back of Fuzakeru, and lightly hit the back before the target fell towards the floor.

Fuzakeru had foreseen Naruto's moves; he had fallen down on purpose. His hands slammed on the floor, and his legs rushed towards Naruto's outstretched arm. They clamped on, and with a grunt, Fuzakeru sent Naruto flying.

"Not the wall, not the wall!" Naruto screamed as the wall began to close in on him.

Fuzakeru grimaced when he heard the smack Naruto had made when the wall made contact.

"Are you alright?" Fuzakeru asked, hand outstretched towards Naruto to help him up.

"My pride isn't alright" retorted Naruto as he grabbed onto the hand and pulled himself up.

Fuzakeru laughed, "In time, you shall be able to have the strength needed to protect your pride, as well as anything else worth protecting!"

Naruto and his uncle both sat down on the floor, both slightly tired from their spar. Fuzakeru sat down, frowned, and then stood back up; he reached into his back pockets and took out a scroll.

"This is a summoning scroll; our clan can only summon the Fox and the Cat tribes. As it stands right now, both tribes might reject, one rejects while the other accepts, or both accepts. The last event is very rare, but it is not unheard of, the last person to be accepted by both clans was your mother Kushina in fact."

Naruto literally started to drool at the mention of the chance of being a summoner, but when he had heard that his mother was the last one to have the right of summoning both tribes right off the bat, "Can I try now uncle? Please please please?"

Fuzakeru smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair fondly. "Of course you can Naruto. Remember, be formal with the both of them, they don't like rude people."

Naruto grinned, "I understand, now can I try out the scroll uncle?"

"You weren't even paying attention were you Naruto," he sighed.

"Nope!"

"Oh whatever, here we go, put your blood on top of the kanjis, and place the scroll on the ground."

"Yes sir!" Naruto saluted, and proceeded to do with what he had been instructed with.

The scroll was placed onto the floor, and smoke starting to appear, "Oh crap, did I do something wrong!" Screamed Naruto, ready to bolt out of there at the first sign of trouble.

"Relax Naruto, you did nothing wrong," Fuzakeru chuckled, putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Look, do you see the two figures in the smoke?"

Naruto turned around and stared intensely at the huge smoke screen and could barely make out two silhouettes.

The two silhouettes stepped out from the shadows, and stared at the Summoner.

"Hes a bit short isn't he, right Nekyoda?"

"But he's sooo cute Kyujoshi! I just want to keep him as my pet!"

* * *

><p><strong>Fin.<strong>

**A/N, im pretty sure you know where this story is going to lead too, so flame me.**


	2. The Preperations

**A/N, the chapter two of this story. Read, rate, flame.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

Previously on Zodiac:

The two silhouettes stepped out from the shadows, and stared at the Summoner.

"Hes a bit short isn't he, right Nekyoda?"

"But he's sooo cute Kyujoshi! I just want to keep him as my pet!"

* * *

><p>Now back to the present.<p>

* * *

><p>The first silhouette that stepped out was apparently called Kyujoshi. Kyujoshi was a black colored human sized fox that had nine tails. Each tailed waved around the body, with every single tail a different color at the tip.<p>

The second silhouette that stepped out was called Nekyoda. Nekyoda was a regular sized cat that was pure black except for the fact that its eyes were glowing white. Its tail was also black, and wagged extremely fast behind the body.

The cat pounced onto Naruto, "This person is such a cutie! Not as cute as the last boy, but close enough!"

"Nekyoda, please be serious, the last boy you were referring to got killed because of your attitude." Murmered Kyujoshi, swaying slightly from where he sat.

"But, I just can't resist!" whined Nekyoda.

"Then learn how."

The cat gave a small purr and jumped of Naruto's head. "If you insist Kyujoshi."

The fox stared off from the cat and back onto Naruto, "So you are the next person that wants to summon us."

Naruto gulped, "Yes sir Kyujoshi-sama!"

"_Oh great, im going to love how this will play out." _Thought Kyujoshi.

"Lets see what you can do, Nekyoda and I will fight you two on one, and this will be a taijutsu only match. The match will be _First five hits_." Announced Kyujoshi

"After getting hit five times you will be declared the loser. If you manage to make one of us lose, that person will permit you to summon their tribe, if you manage to hit us both five times each, we will concede and allow you to summon both of us. However, if we manage to hit you five times without you taking out one of us, you will lose all rights to summon us until you are deemed worthy in a later time." Purred Nekyoda.

Naruto mentally groaned,_ "Im screwed"._

Both summons walked to the center of the dojo and sat down, "We are ready when you are."

Fuzakeru led Naruto to the center, and whispered to him, "Good luck, you'll need it."

"Ready, set, GO!" Fuzakeru boomed out, and both summons jumped towards Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Oh crap! Hold on I wasn't ready!" Naruto yelped, jumping backwards to avoid a narrow swipe from the ferocious cat.<p>

"One must always be expecting the unexpected," stated Kyujoshi from behind Naruto, and using his tails, he grabbed Naruto and threw him into the air where Nekyoda was waiting.

"I guess I was wrong about you, I assumed you were strong, but I guess looks can be deceiving." Meowed the cat, and swiped down on Naruto's face.

Naruto's arms flew up towards his face, protecting him against the claws. Fortunately, his face was untouched, unfortunately, his arms did not.

"That's one point against you Naruto!" Fuzakeru called out.

"I noticed that uncle!" Naruto called back, and landed on the floor, "Im going to get back at th- hey wait, where'd they go?"

Naruto frantically stared at the left, and right side, behind him and then above him. When he heard another whisper, "You forgot the last direction, underneath you."

Naruto head snapped down, and saw both animals between his legs, and Nekyoda smiled sadistically, and swiped towards the middle of his outstretched legs.

"NOT THERE NOT THERE!" Screamed Naruto and dove forward to avoid getting hurt in the one place all men hold sacred.

"D'aw, I missed, oh well, theres always next time!" Nekyoda happily chirped.

"If you were a little bit more serious, you could have gotten him." Mumbled the fox.

Naruto's head gained a tick as he slowly grew more and more angry.

"Oy oy! Just you wait, ill get back at you!" Bursted Naruto, pointing his finger at midair?

"Never lose your temper." Kyujoshi said from behind once again, and slapped him on the back with all nine tails. Naruto hurtled across the room and slammed into the wall.

"Two points!"

Naruto grew a second tick more, "I get it uncle!"

Nekyoda popped up in front of his face and turned her head, "If you get it, why don't you actually try? Or are you really just this weak?"

* * *

><p>Naruto's two ticks evolved into a full grown anger mark and he flew at them, foaming at the mouth a bit.<p>

"I'll show you!" He screamed, all strategic thinking gone, and only reckless assault remained.

With a leap, Naruto was in midair, leg straight up in front of his face.

"No no, never be in the air like that, you will never be able to dodge an attack," frowned Fuzakeru.

Naruto ignored that comment, and came crashing down onto Nekyoda's head.

Nekyoda gave a yawn, and stared at Naruto, "Is that the best you can do?"

"What wait! How did you block that?" But while he had said that, Naruto felt something on his leg that had supposedly struck the cat on the head. He stared at his leg, and saw Nekyoda's tail curled around it.

"Hey Naruto, do you like being swung around?" Chirped the cat.

Naruto paled, and before he could react anymore, he felt his foot that was on the floor a second before leave the ground.

Nekyoda swung around Naruto like a kid would play with a yoyo, and then released him.

He was sent flying towards Kyujoshi, who had been stretching a bit.

"Oh, just at the right moment too, I was getting bored doing warm ups."

Kyujoshi did a small leap, leaving one paw on the floor while the others in midair.

He spun around faster and faster, all body parts except for one paw, which acted as a pivot, twirled faster and faster each second.

Naruto eyes widened, _"Oh crap, if that hits me, im not going to be feeling fine in the morning!"_

Naruto desperately scanned his surroundings, looking for anything that could prevent his upcoming disaster.

"_What if I use his body against him?"_ Naruto thought.

Naruto reached out towards one of the free flying tails and the other arm on Kyujoshi's body.

With a grunt, he pushed himself over the potential damage, and grabbed the tails with both arms now.

He threw Kyujoshi up high enough for him to kick. And when Kyujoshi had reached the desired height, Naruto did an uppercut with his leg, hitting the poor fox up on the chin.

* * *

><p>"Awoof!" grunted Kyujoshi. "I wasn't expecting that."<p>

"The score is now two to one to nothing!"

Naruto smirked at his two enemies. "Hows that for size?"

Nekyoda giggled and replied, "Considering how short you are, it was a pretty small attack."

"Hey! I'm not that short! I just didn't reach my growth spurt yet!"

"Yea, we still call that short." Muttered Kyujoshi.

"What was that?" Snapped Naruto.

"I said, you need to pay attention to any sudden movements," whistled Kyujoshi. The fox had somehow shrunk to Nekyoda and had gotten on Naruto's head, and was playing around with his hair.

"Oh and you need to use more shampoo and conditioner, your hairs a bit rough."

While Naruto was occupied with Kyujoshi playing around, Nekyoda had jumped towards Naruto, spinning like a ball. Naruto whipped his head back towards Nekyoda when Kyujoshi had leaped off, and with a thud, Naruto had his breath knocked out from him.

"Three to one to nothing, Naruto, you're losing."

Naruto gave a string of curses under his breath and jumped away from the two.

Slowly, he became more and calmer, when they struck. Nekyoda had jumped to his right; Kyujoshi had jumped to his left. Both had thought Naruto had no strategies left.

Naruto smiled inwardly and ducked. Both animals eyes widened, "Look out!" Nekyoda cried, but it was too late. They both crashed headfirst into each other, but Naruto was finished yet, he spun from the floor on his back, legs outstretched, and hit both summons in the heads and sent them flying in separate directions.

"Three all Naruto, your looking good!"

Naruto smiled and waved back at his uncle, "Im going to win this thing, believe it!" He cried.

Fuzakeru grinned and was about to respond by saying something when something caught his attention.

Naruto spotted his uncle's look on his face, and turned around. And instantly ducked.

* * *

><p>Where Naruto's head had been half a second ago was Nekyoda's claws.<p>

"Stay still will you? I'd like to pay you back for that hit" smiled the cat, sharpening her claws on the floor.

Kyujoshi snorted, "Move faster will you Nekyoda?" The fox sat down on the floor, staring at Naruto with slight annoyance on his face.

Naruto grinned, "Come on, is that all you got?"

The fox gave another grunt of annoyance, "Alright brat, you asked for it."

Naruto stared at the fox for any sudden movement, when he heard movements from the back, he jumped up, and to his relief, saw Nekyoda fly past him.

Naruto sent a kick to Nekyoda's backside, earning him a screech, and sent the cat flying into the poor fox.

"Three to four to four!"

Kyujoshi grunted, "The score keeping is getting very annoying."

Naruto did a small dance, "To me, it's the sound of victory!"

Naruto did a flip of joy, and then realized his mistake. "Oh crap, where'd they go?"

Naruto jumped to the corners of the dojo, scanning around for any signs of them.

"_Oh man oh man, I shouldn't of done that, im going to regret this later!"_

Naruto slowly stepped from the corner, making his way towards the center, looking in all directions, including downwards and upwards. "That's impossible, where could they have gone?"

"If you weren't so tense, you'd have felt us on your back the whole time,"

"AAAH!" Naruto screamed when he had heard the voice speak to him, he started to shake himself, trying to dislodge them from his clothes, when they jumped off.

* * *

><p>Nekyoda stared at Naruto, and slowly, started to giggle. The giggle became a huge laugh and she became to shake. She fell to the floor, laughing out louder than Naruto would yell.<p>

Kyujoshi shook his head at his partner's antics. "Women, ill never understand them for as long as I live."

Naruto shrugged, "Im too young to understand, so im just going to nod my head and pretend I know what you're talking about."

"Eh, kids, I still don't understand them either."

Fuzakeru coughed once, "Will you three please continue with the match?"

Naruto swung his leg at Nekyoda, hoping it would hit them, but Nekyoda dodged the foot, and slowly regained her footing. "Heh, I'll never forget that face you made, even if I get amnesia."

Naruto gave a small grunt, "That can be arranged," He dashed at Kyujoshi, and bomber tackled him. The fox merely gave a small jump, and watched Naruto crash into the wall right behind him. "Does that count as a hit?"

"Fortunately, no, you made no contact with him, so therefore, it does not count." Was the reply.

Naruto slammed the floor with his hands, and pushed off. He did a back flip over their heads, and dived kicked at their faces.

Kyujoshi moved his head and with a tail, he swatted Naruto on the chest.

Naruto flew back a couple of feet, and then paled, realizing something.

"It's Four all now."

"Argh! That's what I was worried about! Thanks for reminding me!" Sarcasm was evident in the last part.

"No problem!" Fuzakeru grinned.

Naruto slapped himself on the head, "That's not what I me- oh never mind."

Both fox and cat jumped onto Naruto, and prepared for the final blow when Naruto fell towards the floor like how you would drop a towel.

"Meow?" Nekyoda said, intrigued.

Naruto rolled backwards from his position, letting the two foes strike the empty ground. He kicked off form the floor, and managed to kick both animals in the torso.

"That's five to both animals and four to Naruto! Naruto Wins!" Fuzakeru cried, jumping up and down, all dignity forgotten.

* * *

><p>"Be quiet, I have realized that." Grumbled Kyujoshi.<p>

"Mrowr, I wish I didn't take this so lightly, I was having too much fun to pay attention." Whimpered Nekyoda.

"Does this mean I can summon both you guys?" exclaimed Naruto, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Unfortunately/Fortunately, yes." Kyujoshi and Nekyoda simultaneously responded.

"Yatta!" Naruto shouted, jumping around the dojo, occasionally doing flips.

"When do you think we should tell him that we went at a tenth of our power?" the cat whispered, giggling at the boy's antics.

"When he gets old enough, as for now, I'm going to head back home so I can get some much needed sleep." Answered the fox.

Fuzakeru smiled at both the summons and said, "I'm glad to hear that you both accept him."

The fox turned his head warily at the human, "We cannot not accept him if he beat us, it would ruin our reputation and honor."

"Of course!" Nekyoda nodded her head almost a blur.

Smiling, the man gave his thanks, and both summons gave a slight nod back, and both poofed away from the world.

At the same time, Naruto came back to them, and was caught by the smoke, "Ack, where'd they go? Is this a trick? I thought it was over!"

Fuzakeru had been unable to contain his laughter and began to laugh out loud, "My dear boy, it is over, and you have been accepted by both tribes. You may now summon both whenever you feel the situation calls for it."

"YES! I told you I could do it Uncle Fuza!"

"Uncle Fuza?" Fuzakeru questioned.

Naruto grinned and answer him, "Your names too long, so I decided to shorten it!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Unbelievable, I'm going to enjoy seeing this little boy grow up."<em> Fuzakeru shook his head, and patted Naruto's head.

"Well Naruto, now that you are now officially part of the Kitsuko Clan, it is time to get you your shinobi tools.

Instantly, the boy's eyes sparkled, "Shinobi tools? Oh boy, does this mean I can start learning all the cool stuff?"

"Well, yes and no. You won't start right away, but you will start learning very important survival techniques. Come along now."

Fuzakeru began to walk away when he was rushed from the back from Naruto.

"Come on Uncle Fuza! I want to start right away!"

Sighing, the man began to quicken his pace, walking out of the dojo. A few minutes later, they walked out from the Kitsuko Clan district, and into the Ushigyu district.

"Why are we here uncle?" Naruto asked.

Fuzakeru ruffled his nephews hair fondly, "You are here to earn your Kitsuko weapon. Every Kitsuko specializes in a certain type of weapon. We call it the Yajirushi Tsume, or Yajisume for short. The Yajirushi Tsume is claws that go on both hands, with a small crossbow on the top. With a small pulse of chakra, we can fire small arrows from the top, hitting the enemy from far away. With another pulse of Chakra, we can also retract the claws, which then turn them into normal shinobi gloves."

Naruto bounced up and down, excited at the prospect of him learning how to use a weapon, "Let's go uncle!" He cried out, already dragging him inside the blacksmith store.

The door opened, and a bell was heard, instantly, they heard a deep voice call out, "Who is it?"

Closing the door behind, Fuzakeru called back, "I am Fuzakeru, leader of the Kitsuko Clan."

Instantly, a man appeared, "What can I do for you Fuzakeru-Sama? Did your Yajisume break?"

Shaking his head, Fuzakeru replied, "My nephew Naruto is beginning his training and needs a Yajisume made for him."

The man stepped from the shadows and Naruto was shocked from how buff the man was. The blacksmith was covered in ashes, but that didn't hide how big muscles the man had.

"Hold out your arm so I can get your measurements please." The man commanded.

Naruto held out his arm, and nearly fainted to see that the other man's arm looked big enough to snap Naruto's arm like a twig if he should ever annoy the man.

"Hm… the boy is skinnier than other kids his age, but I have a Yagisume that was specially made to adapt to a kid, and will grow along with the kid as they grow older."

Fuzakeru smiled at the man, "That will do, will you kindly bring it out, I have the sufficient cash on me to pay for it."

The man retreated back into the back of the store, and Naruto whispered, "Are you sure Uncle, we didn't even see how good the weapon is."

The man smiled at the boy reassuringly, "It's alright Naruto, the Ushigyu clan have been faithfully making weapons for all the clans, and every single weapon they make are worthy of being called Master pieces. I have no doubt the Yajisume he will bring is of the highest class."

The man came back with a small box, walking towards them, he gave a big smile and said, "I believe this weapon is worthy for the young boy."

Naruto took the box carefully and opened it. Inside was a carefully wrapped Yajisume. He took them out, and put them on his arms. It was a loose a bit, so Fuzakeru said, "Put some chakra into it, that'll change the size of it."

Naruto nodded his head, and became quiet and non-moving. He began to pour in Chakra when Fuzakeru cried out, "Naruto, that's too much chakra! Put in less."

Naruto broke his concentration and said, "But that's the lowest I can put in."

* * *

><p>The two older men eyes widened, <em>"That Chakra output was atleast mid chunin to low jounin!" <em>Both men thought.

"What do you mean that's the lowest amount of chakra you can ouput?"

Naruto looked at his uncle, "It's the lowest amount I can put, is there something wrong with that?"

The Ushigyu nodded his head, "That was way too much Chakra for even a Chunin. Either your Chakra is of Kage level, your chakra control is horrible, or both."

Naruto gasped, "What am I going to do Uncle Fuza?"

Fuzakeru scratched his head, _"This is probably the Kyuubi's work, and maybe the Usaku Clan can figure something out."_

He pulled out his wallet, and handed over a wad of bills to the blacksmith. "Here my good man, take this for your hard work."

The man accepted the bills graciously, bowing his head, he said, "Please come again Fuzakeru-Sama."

Fuzakeru nodded at the man, and led Naruto out from the store. "I probably have an answer to your problem; let us head to the Usaku Clan."

A short walk later, they arrived at the Usaku district, where Naruto saw many people rushing along the rooftops with packs full of letters on their backs. Naruto looked around in amazement, "Woah everyone is so fast!"

"The Usaku Clan specializes in speed mostly, but they have the most knowledge on seals, and I was thinking that they would have a seal that would help you with your Chakra problem."

They walked further and further into the district, and walked into a building that said, **"Usaku Sealing"**

A woman inside greeted them, "Good afternoon Fuzakeru-Sama. What brings you to the Usaku district today?"

Fuzakeru gave Naruto a pat on the shoulder and said, "I need to have Kosoku see and have a seal created for Naruto here."

The woman nodded her head, and stared at a piece of paper, "Miss Kosoku is currently free right now, feel free to head on in."

Naruto gave the woman a smile and cried out thanks, earning him a ruffle on the head from his uncle and a lollipop from the secretary. The two men walked into the hallway, and turned right into a room labeled with the person they were looking for.

Fuzakeru knocked on the door politely, and heard a voice inside say, "Come in."

Inside the room, were tons and tons of papers with complex seals on it. Behind the stacks of paper, was a woman in her early twenties. The woman was an attractive blonde, with small square glasses

"What can I do for you two gentleman?" She asked.

Fuzakeru walked up to her and whispered some words in her ears. Her eyes widened momentarily before recomposing herself in front of her guest. "I have just the seal for this type of problem, but it requires five minutes to draw and is painful, do you wish to have the seal?"

Naruto nodded his head, "You can't be Hokage if you're afraid of pain, and I intend to become Hokage, believe it!"

The woman smiled fondly at him, "I like your spirit, let's get the seal written on you then."

Naruto grinned, "Alright! No problem, let's get this seal done with!"

The woman smiled, "Don't faint from the pain."

* * *

><p><strong>Ten minutes later.<strong>

* * *

><p>"If…If I could… move…I'd cry about… how much… it hurts." Naruto panted, crawling on the floor towards his uncle.<p>

"Cheer up nephew, if you get better, I'll treat you to your favorite dinner later." He started to walk towards the door when he saw Naruto running out the door, "Come on uncle, where are we going next?"

Sputtering, Fuzakeru pointed at him and then the floor where Naruto used to be, "But, but, weren't you right there on the floor a second ago?"

Naruto stared at his uncle with an unknowing look, "It's just you Uncle Fuza!"

Still shaking, the man walked out the door, and led Naruto to the outskirts of the thirteen clans. Naruto stared at the landscape quizzically, "Um, Uncle Fuza, why are we here?"

He kept walking towards the end of the outskirt, stopping before two trees. He beckoned Naruto towards him. They both walked through the trees, and arrived at the outside of a village.

"Is that Konoha?" Naruto gasped, pointing at various buildings. "I see the Hokage tower! This is Konoha, but how? I thought we were already in Konoha!"

"Yes this is Konoha, but our clan districts are kept separate from the actual village due to security reasons. As to answer your question, we're here so I can enroll you into the Ninja academy."

"WHAT! Uncle Fuza, why?" Naruto questioned, turning his face onto him.

* * *

><p>"Even though you are going to be training under us, you still need to enroll in the shinobi village, however, you cannot reveal the identities of the clans, nor can you tell anyone that we exist."<p>

"Why not? I think Konoha should have the right to know that we're still here."

Fuzakeru shook his head sadly, "As much as I would like to tell Konoha that we are still here, we cannot risk that anyone like the Uchiha Clan will strike at us."

Naruto continued walking towards the village, "What if they all accept us?"

Shaking his head once again, the man replied, "As long as the Uchiha Clan exists, we will have to live in secret, as they will never forgive us for their humiliation. Maybe one day when the Uchiha has forgotten they're lifelong grudge against our clans, we could co-exist in harmony, but as for now, they still exist in huge numbers, and all are still arrogant as they're past ancestors."

Hanging his head in defeat, Naruto gave a huff, "I understand uncle."

They arrived at the Hokage tower, and entered. Fuzakeru spoke a few words the secretary, and she nodded, giving them the OK to go see the Hokage.

They walked up to the Hokage office and politely knocked on the door. Inside they heard a frustrated voice say, "The doors unlocked, please come in."

Fuzakeru opened the door, and let Naruto walk in first. The Hokage looked up and saw Naruto, and then saw the man accompanying him. "Oh Fuzakeru-San, is it that time already?"

Naruto's uncle nodded, and asked the Hokage, "Whats on your mind my old friend?"

The Hokage sighed, took a puff on his smoking pipe, and replied, "Paperwork, the one enemy that all Kages cannot defeat, no matter what kind of ninjutsu you use."

Naruto stared at the Hokage, "Hey old man, what if you use a jutsu like the Shadow Clone and have the clones do the paperwork?"

It was as if someone had dropped a bomb, "Why didn't I think of that!" Screamed the Hokage, banging his head repeatedly on the desk, with Fuzakeru on the floor laughing on the floor. Suddenly the Hokage straightened himself up, "wait Naruto, how do you know about the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"

Naruto averted his eyes and said, "I stole the forbidden scroll when you were busy looking for someone a week ago."

"A week ago you say? Did you master the jutsu?" Asked Fuzakeru.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yea! It took me forever but I finally did learn it!"

The old man sighed and took another puff on his pipe. "And how many clones can you make?"

"The last time I counted, over one hundred."

* * *

><p>"You made over a hundred?" Both men screamed at the same time, shock and disbelief in their eyes. "Did you feel any fatigue?" The Hokage asked.<p>

Naruto eyebrows furrowed, thinking hard, and then shook his head, "Nope, I barely felt anything at all!"

Fuzakeru sunk down onto a chair, putting his hands on his head, wondered, "_Just how much Chakra does this boy have?"_

"Disregarding this information on how strong you are Naruto, I believe you are here to discuss something else."

Naruto's uncle nodded his head, and said, "Sarutobi, I wish to enroll Naruto into the Ninja Academy."

Sarutobi laid back in his chair, and took a deep breath, "Oh alright, I'll have the paperwork done as soon as possible, thanks to Naruto's suggestion, I can have more free time. Now, the Ninja Academy has already started, and today is the second day, you can go today if you choose to, what do you say Naruto?"

Naruto nodded his head so fast, the older men thought his head would snap. "Oh but first Old man, do you think I could get a spare change of clothes? Orange really does not suit me, but it was all I could get."

Instantly, both men agreed with the little boy, "I'll take you to the shopping district on the way to the academy."

The Hokage smiled and bid them farewell, but not before giving Naruto a note to give to the teacher later. The uncle and nephew thanked the Hokage and left the tower, heading towards the shopping district.

* * *

><p>A few quick minutes later Naruto came back out from the stores, completely changed. Instead of the horrid orange jumpsuit he used to wear, he now wore complete black clothes. His shirt was a short sleeve, but his elbow and forearm had protective pads and his pants were made from sturdy material. They also had pure black greaves on them, as to protect his legs when he had to kick someone. His Yajisume were in their glove forms, and on the back of Naruto's shirt was the symbol of a cat while his pant legs had fox tail like fire on them. Naruto had truly changed, mentally and physically from a week ago.<p>

Fuzakeru smiled at the change, "Are you ready to go to the academy Naruto?"

Naruto just jumped away, leaving Fuzakeru behind, shaking his head, he chased after a laughing Naruto, with the school as the finish line.

Naruto arrived at the school first, and Fuzakeru barely behind him. "Let's see, Sarutobi had said the room you were to go to was Room 037. Why don't you go on ahead, I will go to the person in charge of the Academy to let them know of your enrollment."

Naruto ran towards the before mentioned room, excited for his first official day of school, after a minute of searching for the room, he had found it, and walked inside calmly, but inside, he was ready to burst. He walked inside, and scanned the room, soaking in the sight, the teacher inside stared at Naruto, waiting for Naruto to speak first, but when Naruto didn't say anything, the teacher said, "Hello, was there something you needed?"

Naruto stared back at the teacher, "Yea, are you Iruka-Sensei?" Naruto asked, after looking at the piece of paper he had in his hand.

"Why yes I am, may I ask why you are asking?" Iruka replied, a puzzled look on his face.

Naruto walked over to him instead of answering, and handed over the piece of paper he was holding.

The teacher took the paper and began to read, as time went on, Iruka's eyes widened, he put down the note, and looked at Naruto, "Well, I hope you enjoy your school year in this classroom,"

He turned around to meet the class and announced, "Class! We have a new student named Naruto Uzumaki! Please help him feel welcomed here! Now, why don't you sit next to Hinata Hyuuga, Hinata, will you raise your hand for me?"

A pale white slowly rose in the air, and Naruto stared at the owner, he began to walk over and could feel the whole class' eyes on him, he walked further down the aisle when a foot blocked his way.

The foot stayed there, and Naruto looked at the person who put the foot there. His eyes trailed up to see a person wearing a blue shirt and white tan shorts. He had a smirking look on his face, and the face had said, "You look strong enough to give me a challenge, what is your name?"

Naruto stared at the boy with slight annoyance, _"Uncle Fuzakeru told me to be passive, not the usual hyperactive attitude I usually am, and I can't get into fights, what can I say to not spoil anything?"_

Then it hit him, literally, the boy threw a punch at him, not letting him answer. "Sasuke! Stop that at once!" Iruka shouted, but Sasuke paid the teacher no mind, the punch flew towards Naruto's face, and was less than an inch away from hitting it when Naruto sidestepped and walked away. "Where are you going you coward?" Shouted Sasuke. Naruto kept walking to his seat next to Hinata and sat down, "To my seat, unless you can't see that."

"I'm an Uchiha, when I ask for a fight, you give me a fight!"

"I'm an Uzumaki, and I don't give three fucks."

* * *

><p><strong>Fin<strong>

**While writing this chapter, I realized two things.**

**I can't write fight scenes, nor can I write details about people or clothes.**

**So flame away.**


	3. The Impression

**A/N: here comes the third chapter of Zodiac. Relax, Read, and flame.**

**By the way, I know I suck at those details. Oh and why don't you read Rose tiger's story about a Naruto Styled Robin Hood. I really enjoyed that story :o.**

**And to LilAnimeFan247: I liked the ending too, it just made me laugh every single time.**

**Enjoy**

* * *

><p><span>Previously on Zodiac:<span>

"I'm an Uchiha, when I ask for a fight, you give me a fight!"

"I'm an Uzumaki, and I don't give three fucks." 

The class gasped in shock, the teacher included.

"Do you want to repeat that you piece of trash?" Sasuke commanded.

Naruto shook his head, and sat down, "Let's just get on with the class,"

The girl next to Naruto, Hinata stared at the boy, and blushed a crimson red, _"He's so cute! Not to mention brave!"_

The teacher regained his composure and gave a slight cough, "Let's focus on today's class, today, we are going to go outside and see how proficient you are at the shinobi arts.

As the class walked out, everyone stared at the new kid, some with admiration, others with hatred. Sasuke especially, if looks could kill, then the stares he and his fan girls were giving could of killed Naruto ten times over.

They reached the outside of the class, and stopped at a shooting range. The teacher brought out a list, and read off the paper, "Okay let's start with the girls first. Sakura, why don't you go first?"

"YES SIR!" Screamed a voice, hurting everyone's ears.

She marched up, and grabbed ten of both Shurikens and kunais, she turned her head back, "Sasuke-kun, watch this!"

With a scream accompanying each shuriken and Kunai, she threw them all at the targets, some hitting the targets, but most missed completely. Iruka stared at the targets, and wrote on clip board, "Sakura, three shurikens and four kunais hit the target, while seven shurikens and six kunais missed completely. Please retrieve the weapons Sakura."

"But it'll ruin my fingernail polish I put on for Sasuke-Kun," whined Sakura.

"Do it."

After an extra few minutes of Sakura begging, she finally relented, and gathered the missing materials.

"Next up, Ino."

"Watch how a real ninja throws these Sakura!" Ino shouted, but not as loud as Sakura.

She tossed them, with more accuracy than Sakura, but with less power. This time, five of both shurikens and kunais hit the targets; both most of them fell off after two seconds.

"Well Ino, if those stayed on, you would have a score of five five, but since they fell off the target, you got a score of four shurikens and three kunais, your tied with Sakura."

Ino and Sakura screamed at the same time at each other, "That's not fair! I beat Ino-Pig/Forehead girl fair and square!"

Grumbling, the teacher put his fingers together in a tiger sign and suddenly, his head grew larger, "SHUT UP! HINATA YOU'RE UP NEXT!"

Hinata, who was standing next to Naruto stumbled forward, "Ha-hai!" She stuttered, grabbing the respective weapons and walked up to the range. Sensing that the girl needed a confidence boost, Naruto called out, "Come on Hinata, I know you can do this!"

If she was facing them, they would have seen how red her face turned, a tomato would be jealous. Iruka called for her to begin and she started to throw them faster than most of kids could see. The teacher stared at the targets, "Very nice Hinata, eight shurikens, five which had the bulls-eyes and nine kunais which seven of them hit the bull's-eyes. You are currently first."

Hinata face turned red once again, but when she got to Naruto, she had fainted when Naruto congratulated her openly. "Oh crap, did I do something wrong?" Naruto cried, holding Hinata, Iruka shook his head, "She's fine, just lay her down by the three and she'll awaken soon enough, Yasei Inufu, it is your turn.

"_Inufu? Isn't that one of the thirteen clans?"_ Naruto contemplated this when he remembered another note from his Uncle, _"You can recognize each of the thirteen clans by certain symbols, the Nezuchi a rat symbol on the left shoulder. The Ushigyu have an Ox horn symbol tattoo on their arm. The Toraion clan always wears a stripe armband. The Usaku clan has a shirt that have the Bunny symbol on the back. The Tatsoge Clan has a dragon tattoo across both arms. The Hebunda clan wears a shirt with a snake circling around a Ying Yang symbol. The Umarobi clan wears a horse tail on their pants. The Hitsagi clan has a goat horn shoulder pad on the right shoulder. The Sarurira likes to wield staffs that can extend at will. The staffs are also black with golden tips. The Ondotori clan has the rooster tattoo on the right cheek. The Inufu clan has whitish blue hair with equally whitish blue eyes. The Inoshibuta wear swirls on the shirts. The Kitsuko clan wears their Yajisume in glove form; the gloves have the picture of a fox tail on it. Lastly, the Etoshin clan wears robes that have angel wings on the back."_

"_Oh right, that explains the hair, well, not that it's a bad thing, not only do I find that hair color attractive, but I think she's really pretty."_

* * *

><p>Yasei walked up to the shooting range, and even faster than Hinata, she threw them all, Iruka stared at the targets with amazement, "Good job Yasei! All twenty hit the bulls-eye! You are now in first place with Hinata in second. This concludes the girl's shooting matches; it is time for the boys to shoot now. "Sasuke, why don't you do the honors and shoot first."<p>

Sasuke strutted up to the shooting range and with an arrogant stare at all the boys. He grabbed the weapons, and threw them all with precise aim; Iruka stared at the target, and called out the score. "Nine shurikens with seven of them hitting the bulls-eye and nine of the kunais with six of them hitting the bulls-eye."

"Alright, who wants to go ne-"

A kid with a dog ran up front, "I'll go next!"

"Okay Kiba, lets's see how well you'll do."

Kiba ran up with his dog and cried over his back, "Just you watch Sasuke, let me show you how The Inuzukas do things!"

He threw the weapons, and none of them hit the target, "Zero points to Kiba Inuzuka." Iruka stated, "Next up, Chouji."

A sad Kiba slunk past Chouji, with his dog barking to cheer him up. Chouji walked up to the range while eating a bag of chips. He grabbed the shurikens, and threw them slowly, on the last shuriken, his fingers slipped, and the kunai flew backwards towards the crowd, namely towards the still unconscious Hyuuga.

Naruto eye's widened and struck out his arm, the shuriken bounced off harmlessly from his glove, and Naruto gave a breath of relief. Iruka had his hand on his chest, and also gave a sigh of relief, "Chouji, six shurikens and three kunais, but please for the love of god, next time wipe the grease off first."

"Next up, Shikamaru."

A sleeping boy gave a snort and woke up, "Huh what, is it my turn?"

Shikamaru slouched up, grabbing the weapons lazily, and tossed the weapons towards the targets. Before he could even see them hit, he slouched back towards the back of the class and went back to sleep. Iruka grew a tick mark before ignoring the sleeping boy.

"Moving on! Shino, it's your turn,"

A boy cloaked in a jacket walked up slowly, he threw the ranged weapons almost as lazily as Shikamaru, "Eighteen Bulls-eyes total, with two as a narrow miss, good job Shino, you're in second place!"

"Let's see, Hiretsuna Nezuchi, why don't you go next."

"Hai sensei."

A boy of average height walked up, he wore the rat symbol on his shoulder, like Naruto remembered, and he walked up to the weapon stand. He grabbed the weapons, and gracefully threw them one by one.

"Hm, nine bulls-eyes and another seven bulls-eye. You are in third place Hiretsuna."

"Last but not least, let's have the new student, Naruto Uzumaki throw."

Naruto walked up towards the front of the class, and grabbed the weapons nervously. He walked to the target line. _"Calm down Naruto, getting nervous will get you nowhere."_

Naruto threw the shurikens and kunais almost faster than Iruka could see.

"Er, let's see, twenty bulls-eyes, but you should have thrown a little less hard, you ripped a whole through the targets."

Rubbing his head in embarrassment, Naruto apologized and walked to the back again, where he saw four people watching him. Sasuke Uchiha was glaring at him with anger and jealousy, Hiretsuna Nezuchi with amusement, Hinata and Yasei looked at him with pure admiration.

Iruka stared back at his clipboard, "The winner of the male ranged weaponry is Naruto Uzumaki and the winner of the female ranged weaponry is Yasei Inufu! Now this concludes todays class, be warned however, tomorrow is the melee weaponry class. You can choose whatever weapon you like, but it must be a close to mid ranged weapon. That is all, Class dismissed!"

* * *

><p><strong>After Class, on the way home<strong>

Naruto walked on the path homewards bound when he heard two voices, looking back, he saw Hiretsuna Nezuchi and Yasei Inufu running towards him, "Hey wait up! Man, why do you walk so fast?" Hiretsuna panted out, hands on his legs, trying to catch his breath.

Naruto smiled at them, "Sorry guys, I didn't think you two were going to walk home with me," he said apologetically.

Yasei stared at him, "Why wouldn't we walk home with you? We're part of the same clans; we're like a big extended family!"

Hiretsuna nodded, "What she said,"

Laughing, the three resumed walking home, each talking about how the day went for each of them. Sadly, they eventually arrived at their respective clans, and they all bade each other good bye.

Fuzakeru was calmly sipping on a cup of calming tea when Naruto came crashing in, "Uncle Fuza! Teach me how to use the Yajisume!"

"HOT! HOT HOT HOT!" Fuzakeru cried out, the tea had spilt over his clothes and his mouth, scalding mostly his mouth.

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry Uncle! I was just so excited!"

Fuzakeru recovered from the tea slowly, and nodded towards the hyperactive boy. "If you want to, I shall teach you, but I shall warn you, the training shall be rigorous."

Naruto gave his uncle a determined look, "I'm ready for whatever you go for me! I train my hardest, believe it!"

**The next morning.**

"I think my scars have scars now," whined Naruto. He and his two friends Hiretsuna and Yasei were on their way to school.

"Don't push yourself too hard Naruto," Hiretsuna commented, with Yasei giggling at the display.

"A ninja will never be better unless they push their limits!" Naruto exclaimed, "and if you can't push your limits, you'll never be Hokage!"

Yasei tapped on her chin thoughtfully, 'You know Hiretsuna, he does have a point."

Grinning, Naruto slapped Hiretsuna's back, "Told you I was right."

Hiretsuna groaned and replied, "Oh forget it, let's just hurry up and get to class."

**After the walk, at the Academy.  
><strong>

"Alright class, are you ready for today's class?"

Half the class gave excited shouts of enthusiasm while the other half, mostly the girls, gave moans of displeasure. "Come on Iruka-sensei, I might chip a nail or something," a random girl called out, earning nods from the majority of the girls, with some of the boys.

"And you call yourself shinobi in the training?" cried Sasuke.

"_For once, I agree with this guy."_ Every single serious person thought to themselves.

"But Sasuke-Kun, I did this for you!"

"What will it take for it to get through your heads; I'm NOT interested in weak girls like you, only strong girls." While he said the last part however, he stared momentarily at both Hinata and Yasei.

Yasei however, noticed his stares and wrinkled her face in disgust. Hiretsuna caught her frowning and had to refrain from laughing out loud.

After the ordeal in which many girls had their hearts broken, while others had their hearts blazing, _"If looks won't get him, then I'll have to become the strongest kunoichi he's ever seen!"_

They arrived at a dojo with a weapon rack surrounding them. "Now, let's have the kunoichi 's go first, "Sakura and Ino, why don't you two come up and choose a weapon.

"_Oh great, two of the most troublesome women, fighting each other again. Whoever wins, I'll never hear the end of it, Kami help me."_ Shikamaru inwardly groaned.

Both girls marched up to the rack, determination burning bright in their eyes, "I choose this weapon!" They exclaimed at the same time. Sakura held up blunted brass knuckles, while Ino held up a staff.

"Interesting choice of weapons, of course, these weapons have been chakra blunted, so they won't do as much damage as they would usually would. They will only hurt as much if you had punched them, still avoid hitting anywhere fragile."

"Hai."

"Now, on your mark, get set, GO!"

Sakura rushed towards Ino, delivering a quick punch to the jaw, Ino flew back. Stabbing the floor with the staff, Ino had avoided flying straight at the wall. Running back towards Sakura, she swung the staff. Holding her hand out, the staff struck the knuckle, and both students doubled their efforts to injury the other.

Ino jumped into the air, her staff over her head. Sakura prepped herself for the incoming attacker. With a scream, Ino dropped down onto Sakura, and swung her staff down. Sakura delivered an uppercut up towards Ino, and once again, both weapons struck each other at the same time.

"_I thank you Kami. Thank you for all the little things."_ Shikamaru grinned, looking up towards the sky.

"Instead of having all the girls go at the same time, let's have the class alternate boys and girls. Shikamaru and Shino, let's have you two go next."

"_Screw Kami for the little things."_ Shikamaru groaned.

"Iruka Sensei, I wish to forfeit, my clan does not use weapons at all," Shino stated.

Shikamaru took this moment to pip up, "Neither does my clan."

Iruka thought for a moment, and then nodded, "I suppose I could let you two skip this class, alright then, let's have Hinata and Yasei come up.

Hinata looked over the weapons closely, and chose the chakra gloves, "The Chakra gloves actually make your attacks stronger when you input chakra, but since that can be dangerous, those gloves have limiters." Iruka explained.

Yasei stared at the teacher, and said, "Iruka Sensei, I have already brought my weapons, is that alright with you?"

Nodding, the teacher explained that the weapons would still have to be chakra blunted before continuing. "Would you please bring out your weapon of choice?"

Yasei raised her hand, and in an instant, her glove turned into a weapon similar to Naruto's Yajisume. Instead of the claws that didn't touch the fingers, hers were claws attached to the fingers.

**A/N: Don't know how to explain, so basically, if Yajisume is like Wolverine with a crossbow on it, then hers is claws that fit on her fingertips, as if they were extensions of her fingernails.**

* * *

><p>"Interesting, I have never seen this weapon, may I ask what this is called?<p>

"My clan has called this weapon Shusume."

"_Woah, I never would of seen that coming, a sister weapon of the Yajisume! I wonder if it works similar to the Yajisume."_

"May Hinata and Yasei please step up to the ring," Iruka announced, handing Yasei back her weapon. "On your marks, get set, GO!"

Hinata stood her ground, nervously waiting for the Inufu girl to attack. Yasei grinned, and stood still, as if taunting her. "I bet you ten Ryo Hinata wins the match," whispered Chouji. Pulling out the money, he placed it on the floor, and waited to see if someone would make a bet with him. Sasuke walked over to the betting place, and placed one hundred Ryo on Yasei, "Because I'm not going to miss out on getting easy money." He explained, "besides, one hundred Ryo is chump change, as the last Uchiha, I get more money a week than you commoners get in two months."

Shikamaru opened one eye towards Sasuke, "Is that so? In that case, I'll take up your challenge, I bet fifty ryos on Hinata."

Shino put out his hands, and dropped out sixty ryos on the floor, "I wish to palce my bet on Hinata as well."

Kiba jumped over to Chouji and wrapped his hands around his neck, "It sucks to be on the losing side buddy, but I'm willing to bet seventy ryos on Yasei!"

Sasuke glared at Kiba, "So you're after her too huh, keep in mind that I'll be the one with her in the end. You stay out of this and find some other commoner to claim."

Kiba held up his hands, "Yes I admit she's cute and all but chill dude."

Naruto and Hiretsuna glared at Sasuke, "Yasei isn't someone you claim." Hiretsuna coldy remarked.

"Yea, girls aren't trophies to be won!"

"You two stay quiet, you know nothing about women. Only the strong belong with the strong, and the weak with the weak. That is the rule of the world. Who are you to try and break that rule?"

"You know what they say, rules were meant to be broken." Snapped Hiretsuna. He slapped down one hundred and fifty ryos, "I'm betting on Yasei to win."

Everyone stared at Naruto, "Well then, what about you Naruto, who do you think will win?"

Naruto gulped and his mind went into overdrive. _"Oh crap, what do I do? I want to bet on Yasei, but I want to bet on Hinata also. What to do what to do what to do!"_ Then, his brain sparked, "I'm betting two hundred on a tie!"

Groaning, Hiretsuna slapped Naruto on the back, "Don't you trust in Yasei?"

Shikamaru snorted, "I believe Hinata will win, why don't you?"

Naruto scratched his head, "Uhm…er…I just do!"

"That type of reasoning will not help you succeed in the shinobi world." Shino answered, amusement could have been heard in his voice.

Naruto glanced at Shino, "Well…" Naruto desperately tried to think of something that would help him, "Oh look! It started!"

Everyone ripped their eyes off Naruto and began watching the match. _"Oh thank Kami that worked."_

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere above the skies.<strong>

"Achoo!"

"You've been sneezing a lot lately."

"I wish they would bother me less, your fortunate they don't speak your name as often as mine Budha."

"That may be true. We are getting off topic however, Go fish."

"You know, I'm starting to think you're cheating." Kami said, staring at Budha.

"Nonsense, you are just merely unlucky." Came the reply.

"Achoo!" sneezed Kami, blowing the cards out of Budha's hand.

"HAH, you WERE cheating!" exclaimed Kami, pointing at his friend.

Budha smiled and folded his arms, "It was only once, would you have rather played Susanoo at Poker?"

"No." Kami replied sadly.

"Good, now let's pick up the cards and resume the game."

**Back to the mortal world.**

* * *

><p>Hinata and Yasei stared at each other, each daring each other to make the first move.<p>

Seconds went by, then minutes. Suddenly, Hinata rushed towards Yasei. Striking towards the stomach, Hinata's hand was interecepted by a single hand. Smirking, Yasei kicked her backwards.

Hinata fell onto the floor, gasping in slight discomfort, Hinata fell to the floor. Instantly, Yasei was there, thrusting her claws forward. Hinata tumbled to the sides, narrowly dodging the hole that would have been Hinata's shoulder. Yasei continued on trying to strike down on Hinata.

Rolling, Hinata planted her foot in Yasei's leg, causing the girl to trip. Hinata sprung up and the roles reversed. Yasei dodged each blow Hinata threw at her. The match went on like this, with either Hinata dodging each of Yasei's claws, or Yasei blocking the chakra gloves with the back of her gloves.

"How long is this going to take!" cried a very frustrated Kiba.

Hinata heard this, and began to stutter out an apology when she was struck down to the floor.

"It's time to end this Hinata!" Cried Yasei, spinning, she created enough momentum to knock out Hinata.

Hinata eyes widened, and desperately, she pushed chakra into the gloves.

Yasei spun and thrusted downwards, and hit Hinata in the stomach, but while she did that, Hinata slammed her gloves into Yasei's stomach. Crying out in pain, but girls fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Wait, they both got knocked out, which means it's a tie, which means..oh crap!" Kiba exclaimed.

Naruto held out his hand, "Pay up guys."

Grumbling everyone paid up the amount they had promised, even an angry Sasuke forked over the money.

"You got lucky dobe."

Shaking his wallet, Naruto answered, "What was that? I couldn't hear you over my coin jingling in my wallet!"

"Tsk," Sasuke grunted, turning away.

"Since Yasei and Hinata are both knocked out, I proclaim this attack as a draw! Hiretsuna Nezuchi and Kiba Inuzuka! Please walk up to the ring."

Hiretsuna calmly stepped up to the stage, and grabbed the weighted chain and sickle. Kiba yelled out, "Iruka-Sensei, my clan doesn't use weapons, they get in the way for us."

Dissapointed, the teacher dismissed both of them and called out the next two names, "Sasuke and Naruto, please come up and pick your weapons."

Marching up to the rack, Sasuke grabbed a katana. Naruto walked over to Iruka and was about to say something when Iruka spotted him, "Please don't tell me you're going to forfeit as well." He groaned. Shaking his head, "I came to ask if you could make my weapon blunt as well."

Sighing with relief, Iruka nodded his head, "Where is your weapon?"

Naruto held out his hand, and pushed Chakra into his glove, almost instantly, his Yajisume popped out, scaring the teacher. "Oh crap!"

The class looked at the teacher with amusement, some gave a quiet giggle.

"Er.. here, I'm done now." Iruka handing back Naruto's Yajisume, Iruka shot his class a dirty look, "What happened in class, stays in class, got it? Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other, Sasuke glaring at Naruto with Naruto grinning.

"Ready, set, GO!"

Sasuke stood still, taunting Naruto to come at him. "Bring it,"

Naruto smiled and held his hand out, taunting him, "Ladies first."

Grunting, Sasuke his katana sideways, going for a rib shot, "Bitches follow."

Naruto held his Yajisume to his side, meeting the katana with a clang. Seeing the move was unsuccesful, Sasuke pulled away and lunged towards Naruto. Naruto intercepted the katana by parrying the blow, knocking it back.

Naruto jumped up, and dove towards Sasuke. Slashing downwards, Naruto nicked the collar of Sasuke's shirt, causing Sasuke's shoulder to be noticable.

"Oh god, whats this stuff going down my back?" Hiretsuna questioned, reaching behind and touching whatever was going down his back. "Is this blood?"

Looking backwards, he saw Sakura and Ino holding their nose, with blood coming out from it. "For fucks sake, if you get a nosebleed from this, I don't even want to know what happens when Naruto rips Sasu-"

*RIP*

Ino and Sakura eyes widened, and blood spurted out of their noses and sprayed onto Hiretsuna's face, along with Yasei, who was behind him.

Turning around, Hiretsuna saw that Naruto had ripped Sasuke's shirt once again, this time the rip extended to the bottom of the shirt, leaving behind a clear view of Sasuke's stomach.

Hiretsuna's back was no completely covered with blood, and was completely disgusted by it. "Iruka-Sensei, may I go wash my clothes?" he cried.

Iruka nodded his head, and Hiretsuna went off to find the nearest sink while Yasei laughed loudly at her friend's misfortune. She herself was unaffected by Sasuke's show of skin, if anything, she was disgusted, she had no interest in seeing any part of him, nor did she ever want to.

Naruto laughed at Sasuke, "It looks like all your fangirls are out."

Sasuke grunted and slashed at Naruto, "I don't care about those weak fangirls. The only two girls worth mentioning would be that Yasei girl and Hinata."

"_It's just pissing me off how he acts like he already owns them."_ Thought Naruto.

Disappearing from Sasuke's sight, Naruto reappeared from behind him, and slashed at him. Although the weapon was blunted, it still hurt as much as getting punched would; Sasuke gave a gasp of pain and started to fall. Instead of letting himself fall, Sasuke slammed his foot down and did a flip away from Naruto.

Naruto dashed towards the katan wielding boy, thrusting out his arm, he manages to knock the sword from position. Frantically Sasuke kicked Naruto back. Suprisingly, the last ditch plan worked, and Naruto felt himself pushed backwards.

"Time to end this, **First Dance: Neko Noboru!**" Naruto cried. He disappeared from sight, and Sasuke looked around for any sight of him. Suddenly, Naruto appeared in front of him and with a smash, Sasuke was sent flying up. Naruto jumped up and with his Yajisume, he slashed downwards on Sasuke. Doing another flip, Naruto continued slashing and flipping, making it look like he was somersaulting upwards.

Sasuke fell to the floor, feel battered when he saw Naruto up in the air.

"**Second Dance: Neko No kazaguruma No aki!**"

* * *

><p>Naruto began somersaulting downwards, with the Yajisume spinning along with him. Naruto plummeted towards the unfortunate opponent, and was about to smash into him when Iruka stopped the foot. "I believe that is enough Naruto. Anymore and Sasuke would be hurt badly."<p>

Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto walked away, and saw the stares he was receiving. "Time to check up on Hiretunsa" Naruto said, and started into his friend's direction.

"Holy crap, I don't want to get on Naruto's bad side" Kiba whispered to the group, his dog Akamaru barking in agreement."

"It would be foolish indeed to cross Naruto-san." Shino agreed, pushing up his glasses.

**Skipping to Hiretsuna.  
><strong>

"You alright Hiretsuna?" Naruto called out. He heard splashing and then a reply, "Yea, I'm just a bit annoyed about how much blood there is, couldn't you have gone less excited?"

"The guy annoys me, I couldn't help it." Naruto retorted, shurgging his shoulders.

Yasei popped out from behind Naruto, "What's up guys?"

Screaming Naruto jumped and hid behind Hiretsuna, "Don't do that again Yasei"

Yasei giggled and gave out an apology. "Iruka sensei told me to call you two back to class, he wants to go over tomorrow's class assignment."

Hiretsuna walked out from behind the sink, "I'm all cleaned up, I'm game to go. What about you Naruto?"

Naruto grinned and replied, "We were just waiting for you Hiretsuna."

Yasei grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them back towards class. "Let's go guys, we don't want to get yelled at!"

Laughing, both boys went along with their friend, and together they walked towards the class.

Iruka looked at them, especially Naruto, and then he opened his mouth, "Naruto...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:Cliff hanger :D.**

**Hoped you enjoyed it.**


	4. The Spirit

**A/N: I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Read and flame guys.**

Previously, on The Zodiac:

Yasei grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them back towards class. "Let's go guys, we don't want to get yelled at!"

Laughing, both boys went along with their friend, and together they walked towards the class. 

Iruka looked at them, especially Naruto, and then he opened his mouth, "Naruto…"

* * *

><p>"Naruto…."<p>

"Yes Iruka Sensei?"

"Congratulations! You win the tournament! However, you should of held back a little, Sasuke would have suffered a concussion at minimal if I didn't stop it."

Blushing, Naruto scratched his head, "hehe, thanks Sensei!"

Sasuke grunted, turning away from Naruto, and was met with Sakura and Ino. "Sasuke-kun, we were wondering if you were alright!" Sakura said, concern in her eyes.

Sasuke turned his head the other way and walked away, breaking both girl's hearts even further.

"_I need to get stronger, not only to kill my brother, but to show Naruto's place as a commoner! No emotion like Love is going to get in my way for that! Avengers don't have time for any crap like that."_

Iruka broke Sasuke's train of thought, "Sasuke, are you alright? If you're not feeling well still, the nurse's office is still open."

Sasuke nodded his head, indicating he was fine, and began to walk away when Iruka said, "Class, tomorrow is the Ninjutsu class, please be ready for it by having a good night's sleep and a good breakfast."

Sasuke's ears perked up, _"Ninjutsu? That's my forte; I guess it's finally time to show my top spot as an Uchiha._"

_Ninjutsu? That's my weakest! I'm screwed!" _Naruto mentally screamed, hands on his head, and his head face down.

Giggling at his antics, Yasei patted his shouler, "it's alright, Ninjutsu isn't my strong point either. I'm more of a Genjutsu person."

Hiretsuna laughed and said, "Luckily for me, Ninjutsu is my best thing."

Naruto gave a sigh, "I'm only good at Taijutsu and with my Yajisume, I barely know any Ninjutsu, and I might as well forget about Genjutsu, my chakra control isn't good enough for that."

Shrugging his shoulders Hiretsuna asked "Why don't you ask your uncle if he knows any moves."

Eyes brightening, Naruto nearly leaped off the ground and try to run home when Yasei and Hiretsuna planted their palms on his shoulder, and pushed him down. "Class isn't over yet Naruto" they both hissed, staring at their teacher.

Iruka gave a cough and stared at his students, "Class dismissed!"

Hiretsuna and Yasei turned back to Naruto, "Now we can go h- where'd he go?"

Hiretsuna turned his head just in time to see Naruto running off homewards bound. "Come on, we'll lose him if we don't hurry!"

* * *

><p><strong>On the way home<strong>

"Geez Naruto, can't you ever slow down?" Hiretsuna gasped.

"Fine, next time I'll go slower. By the way, Hiretsuna, do you have any Ninjutsu ready for tomorrow?"

"Actually, I do, and if you guys want, I can teach it to you."

Both Yasei and Naruto eyes sparkled, "Please do Sensei" Yasei said, with Naruto saluting him.

Laughing, Hiretsuna nodded and proceeded to find a training ground in which they could train at.

**At the Training Grounds.**

Hiretsuna sat down on a tree stump, with his two friends sitting down on the other two stumps near him.

"The first jutsu I can teach is an all around ninjutsu, but it requires a ton of chakra, it's called the Shadow Clone jutsu."

Naruto eyes popped out, Shadow clone jutsu? I already know that one."

This time, Hiretsuna eyes popped out, you know that jutsu already? It's a forbidden jutsu, how do you already know it?"

"I read the Forbidden Scroll when I was smaller." Naruto grinned, flashing a thumbs up.

"If you read the scroll, then shouldn't that mean you should know most of the jutsus then?" Yasei questioned, staring at Naruto in amazement.

"Well… I didn't understand the concepts, here wait, I copied down the scroll and kept it with me ever since!" He pulled out a miniature scroll, and after inputting more chakra into it, the scroll enlarged, giving his two friends a close up look on the words **"Forbidden Scroll"**.

"Holy crap Naruto, Good job! Let's go see if they have any ninjutsu we can use!"

Unraveling the scroll, but not all the way, Naruto opened the scroll to a small segment. Skimming down, Naruto read the lines:

**Kage Kūkan: Shadow Binding. **_This B ranked Ninjutsu allows the caster to bend the shadows to his will. If enough chakra is input, the shadows can puncture through the enemy, if little chakra is input, you can bend the shadows to immobilize the enemy._

_Hand Signs: Rabbit, Dog, and Rat._

**Kage Keimusho: Shadow Prison**. _This A ranked Ninjutsu traps the enemy in a dome of earth, leaving the enemy inside with absolute zero vision. If a shadow based Genjutsu is applied, the effect is doubled._

_Hand Signs: Ox, Bird, Horse, Rat_

**Kage Kakuchó: Shadow Extension**: _This A ranked Ninjutsu allows the user to send anything he chooses to from one shadow to another, however, the bigger the item being sent, the more chakra. For example, if a person wanted to send a shuriken from his shadow to his opponent's shadow, the chakra consumption would be minimal. But if the user wanted to send himself to another shadow, it would consume enough chakra to deplete a normal Chunin._

_Hand Signs: Snake and Rat._

Naruto stared at these, and pointed at the third Ninjutsu, I'm going to try and learn that one!"

Hiretsuna stared at the first ninjutsu, "I'm interested in learning how to do this one."

Yasei sighed, "I'll take the first one then, and you two should teach me how to do the Shadow Clone Jutsu anyways."

Nodding their heads, Naruto and Hiretsuna agreed to the plan.

"Come on then!" cried Naruto, he dragged Yasei by the hand, resulting in Yasei gaining a crimson blush that would rival Hinata's.

**After the hours of grueling work they called training.**

"I can't move." Whined Naruto

"You're not the only one," Hiretsuna was on the floor on his back.

Yasei crawled towards them, "I think we should take a break."

Still on the floor, Naruto murmured, "So, how are you guys doing?"

Yasei gave a sigh, "I got the Shadow Clone jutsu down almost, except my clones are dying from clone exhaustion. But I did figure out something."

Naruto raised his head, or at least, he tried to, "What'd you learn?" he said, trying to life his head at least one meter.

Yasei fell back on her back and said, "You apparently learn what your clones do before they disappear."

Hiretsuna's eyes widened, "Do you know what this means? If one clone sends back the memory of them, then wouldn't that make training much faster?"

"I don't get it" Naruto said, confusion in his eyes.

Understanding, Yasei explained to Naruto, "If learning a certain jutsu would take a normal ninja a week to learn, imagine if we had six other clones with us to learn that those extra clones, the jutsu that would take a week to learn would be reduced to a single day!"

"Oh I get it now! But how do you know it'll work?" Naruto asked.

Hiretsuna merely made a shadow clone, and instructed Naruto to make one. Leading Naruto's clone to the forest edge, he had the two clones play rock paper scissors. Once the game was done, both clones were expelled.

Naruto and Hiretsuna acknowledged the clones memories and Naruto asked, "Now what?"

Groaning mentally, Hiretsuna said, "You remembered who won right?"

Naruto grinned, "Of course, my clone did!"

"Do you understand the exercise now?"

"No" Naruto stated.

Hiretsuna slapped himself on the head, and said, "Our clones play a quick game of paper scissors rock, and once they finished, they had relayed their memories back to us, do you understand?"

Naruto nodded once, "Good, any more and I would have to worry about your IQ."

"Hey! I know what that meant!"

Yasei turned to Hiretsuna, "So, what does that mean for me?"

Hiretsuna answered simply, "If your clones are dying of chakra exhaustion, doesn't that mean you're not putting enough chakra into them?"

"Oh, thanks." Yasei said, understanding her problem and what she could do to fix the problem.

"Alright, we took a long enough break, let's get back to training!"

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto<strong>

Naruto stared at his clone's shadow, and flashed through the signs, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension!"**

Naruto stepped onto a nearby tree's shadow, and felt a twinge of pain as he felt one part of his foot go out of the designated shadow while the other part of his foot come out from another shadow farther away. He canceled the Jutsu and thought about his problem, _"So whenever I try to put a part of myself through a shadow, it only comes out with another part coming out from a different shadow. Maybe I'm using too much chakra?"_

**With Hiretsuna**

Hiretsuna's clone was a few feet away from him, waiting for him to execute the techniqueonce again.

Hiretsuna gritted his teeth, and went through the sufficient hand seals, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Binding!"**

His shadow flew towards the clone, but before it could reach the clone, the jutsu canceled out, leaving the clone untouched. _"Dam, not enough Chakra!"_

Executing the jutsu once again, he began to put more chakra when he saw the shadow swell up, and then explode. Cursing, he replayed all the scenarios that had happened. _"So this time, I input too much Chakra."_

**With Yasei**

Ever since Hiretsuna had gave her that piece of advice, she had successfully made clone after clone. Moving on, she had decided to try out the new technique, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Prison!"**

The clone gave a small eep as a dome surrounded her, enveloping her in complete darkness, "This is creepy, and can I be dispelled now?" The clone pleaded.

Yasei was shocked at her success, "No, I need to see if a genjutsu is really amplified in here. **"Ninja Art: False hope!"** The clone inside started to scream, "It works! It works! Just for the love of god, stop it!"

Yasei smiled contently, and dispelled both the genjutsu and the clone, grimacing at the memory of her clone; she went over to see how her two friends were doing.

She saw Hiretsuna pierce his clone with two shadows. Dispelling the jutsu, Hiretsuna saw Yasei sitting on a log. Walking up to her, "You finished too?" He asked, earning a nod he said, "How's Naruto doing? It's almost time to go home."

Shaking her head, she pointed at the boy. Naruto was on the floor, foaming at the mouth in obvious pain. His clone pitied the sight of the original, leaning on a tree, the clone then had a sudden idea, "If it makes you any better, Sasuke would probably learn this faster than you could."

Hearing that, the original Naruto flew up and flashed through the signs again, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension!"**

Punching his own shadow, the fist reentered through the tree's shadow, clocking the clone's face. The clone dispelled, leaving Naruto jumping up and down at his success. "I did it!" He cried. Yasei and Hiretsuna groaned at his antics. "Come on Naruto, Its' time to go home!"

**Back at the Kitsuko district**

"Uncle Fuza!" Naruto dove towards his uncle; fortunately, Fuzakeru dodged the assault and rustled Naruto on the head, "What happened to you today? You stink to high heaven, shower first, then we talk."

"but, but, but," Naruto started.

"No buts," Fuzakeru said sternly, "Go take a shower or else I'm not going to listen."

Whining, Naruto reluctantly headed towards the showers.

**After the shower.**

"Uncle! I wanted to tell you I learned a new jutsu today!"

Smiling, the uncle nodded for Naruto to continue, "What did you learn?"

Naruto smiled and started the signs from behind his back, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension."**

Fuzakeru frowned, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear the jutsu, care to repeat that?"

Naruto only put his hand through the wall's shadow and tap Fuzakeru's shoulder. Turning around, he expected another person in the room, but instead, he saw Naruto's disembodied hand waving at him. His face paled, "Why is your hand detached from your body?"

Naruto grinned, and answered, "I learned this super cool jutsu called the Shadow Extension!"

Fuzakeru' eyes narrowed as he recognized the name, "I recall that particular jutsu was locked up in the Forbidden Scroll due to the chakra exhaustion that usually accompanied the completion of it."

Naruto's grin widened even more as he said, "I've been using this Jutsu for the whole day today!"

Eyes widening, the man put his hands on his head, _"Just how much Chakra does this kid have? I know the Kyuubi gives him a huge boost of Chakra, but this is just ridiculous! Kushina must of passed down her massive amount of Chakra as well."_

Naruto canceled the jutsu, "Pretty impressive huh?"

Ruffling his hair, Naruto's uncle smiled at him, "Good job! As a reward, why don't we head over to Ichirakus and eat some ramen, my treat."

Naruto's eyes sparkled, and ran out the door before anyone could stop him. "Come on uncle! We're going to be late!"

Fuzakeru shook his head and began to walk out the door; he prayed that his wallet would last.

* * *

><p><strong>At Ichirakus<strong>

Fuzakeru quietly shed a tear as Naruto devoured his twentieth bowl, _"For the love of Kami, please let this end!"_

"So Naruto, hows the life of a ninja going for you?" Ayame asked. Ayame was the daughter of Ichiraku, the owner of the ramen stand. She had always been protective of Naruto, and was sad to hear that he was going to become a ninja.

Snacking down the bowl he was on, Naruto looked up at Ayame, "It's going great! I'm learning so many new things and every day is so awesome!"

Smiling, Ayame put down another bowl, much to Fuzakeru's dread, Naruto began to wolf down that bowl as well.

"_Kami, if you are listening, please send me help!"_

**Where Kami lives.**

Kami and his friend Buddha stared down on the man, "Should we help him?"

Buddha nodded his head, "He was kind to Naruto, it is befitting that Karma comes back to help him."

Kami nodded his head, "So be it then."

**Back to the Mortal World.**

Ichiraku smiled at Naruto, "It's always so great to see our number one customer so happy, Fuzakeru-san, thank you for taking care of Naruto. Theres not much I could do to give my thanks, but please, this whole meal is on the house."

Tears of joy came out of the man's eyes. Dropping his head so no one could see his tears, he quickly wiped them off, then raising his head. "It is I who should thank you, for helping Naruto when I could not. If you should ever come across any trouble, please come to me."

**Back at home**

"Aright Naruto, it's time for you to head off to bed."

Naruto nodded his head, he was already feeling tired, not from the time, but from his day of training.

"Good night Uncle." He said, heading off to his room.

"Good night Naruto"

**Next day after breakfast.**

"Naruto, your friends are here." His uncle said.

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. He walked out the door, and saw Hiretsuna and Yasei standing there. "Let's go guys!"

Both kids smiled and turned to walk, "We still got a lot of time, so let's take our time walking there." Hiretsuna said.

"Do you guys think we're going to pass?" Yasei said, she was still a bit unconfident about her skill. She was not hesitant about her two friends though.

"Of course! Don't doubt yourself and you'll be fine! Believe it!"Naruto exclaimed.

Much to Naruto's surprise, Hiretsuna groaned and reached into his wallet, he fished out a ten ryo coin and handed it over to Yasei's outstretched hand. Sensing Naruto's bemused expression, she explained, "Each time you say Believe it, Hiretsuna here owes me money."

"I don't say it that much do i?" Naruto said downtrodden. Hiretsuna only nodded his head, "Yes. Yes you do."

"Fine then! I won't ever say it again! Believe it! Aw crap."

Giggling, Yasei held out her arm again, "It's going to take you a long time to not say that, not that i'm any rush."

Hiretsuna glared at Naruto, "You better stop, for my wallet's sake."

* * *

><p><strong>At the Academy<strong>

"Today's Ninjutsu class will be different, instead of two students being pit together to fight, I am going to make a clone and you will use your ninjutsu to attack it. The grading will be like this: atleast two D ranked Ninjutsu's are expected, but the more the better." Iruka said, "Now, who wants to go first?" He continued.

Raising his hand, Sasuke walked up, "Oh good, Sasuke please continue whenever you want."

Sasuke strutted up, and reached Iruka's clone, going through the seals, he inhaled, **"Ninja Art: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" **He exhaled, and a fireball flew out from his mouth, hitting Iruka's clone head on." Dispelling the jutsu, Sasuke stared at his teacher, "I have another jutsu to show."

Creating another clone, Iruka beckoned Sasuke to continue. Sasuke went through another pair of seals, and with another inhale, he cried, **"Ninja Art: Fireball rain!"** Spitting out small fireballs into the air, they flew up, and once they reached their peak, they rained down onto the clone. Everyone winced in pain as they saw the fireballs hit the clone, Iruka was wincing as he dispelled the Jutsu, "Very well, Your first jutsu was a C rank while your second jutsu was also a C rank jutsu. Who will want to go next?"

Sakura and Ino's hands flew into the air, "Hm… I guess I can let the both of you go at the same time."

Ino went through one seal, and clapped her hands together** "Ninja Art: Mind Transfer" **She transferred her mind into the clone, and instantly saw Sakura go through her seals, **"Ninja Art: Earth Shattering"** She smashed her fist into the ground. An earthquake was felt, and it sent a rippling effect to the teacher.

Screaming, Ino canceled her Jutsu, and saw the havoc that was her teacher. The poor man fell into a crater, and Sakura wasn't finished yet.** "Ninja Art: Spike Hammer!"** Throwing up a rock, she smashed her first into it. The rock gave a ripple, and then suddenly turned into a spike; it flew towards the teacher's clone, and pierced him right on the chest. Each person paled, the clone dispelled, and Iruka clapped his hands, "Well done both of you, Ino, you performed a C ranked jutsu while Sakura performed a D and C ranked jutsu. However, the Spike hammer can be a higher ranked jutsu if you are stronger, it depends on your strength pretty much."

Nodding their heads, both students turned back to sit with the rest of the class.

"Hinata, why don't you go next?"

Giving a small eep, Hinata stumbled to the front. She looked like she was going to pass out from embarrassment, so Naruto, not wanting to see anyone hurt, "Come on Hinata, you can do this!"

Hearing that Hinata blushed a fiery red, but her confidence was boosted. She walked up to the clone, and did a single ram seal, "**Clan Art: Byakugan!"**

Her eye veins bulged, and she did another seal, **"Clan Art: Sixty Four Palms!"**

Rushing towards the clone, her hands struck each tenketsu point, immobilizing him. On the last strike, she slammed into the stomach. The clone managed to stay conscious and then Hinata assembled another pose, **"Clan Art: Tenketsu overload!"** She sent Chakra to her hands, and then slammed it into the stomach once again. The clone gave a scream of pain as all the previously closed Tenketsu were forcibly opened.

The teacher smiled at Hinata, "Great job! Not including the opening of your Byakugan, you performed a C rank Jutsu and a B rank Jutsu!"

Hinata stumbled to the back of the class, where she saw Naruto giving her a thumbs up. She blushed once again, this time; the blush would make a tomato jealous.

Yasei glared at Hinata, and then Naruto, but fortunately, both didn't notice it, except, her friend Hiretsuna did, _"Oh Kami, Naruto has two girls after him."_

Yasei marched up to the front, and Iruka summoned a clone for her to demonstrate on. **"Ninja Art: Shadow Prison!"** The clone gave a yelp as the earth around flew up, covering him in a dome of dirt.

"**Ninja Art: False Hope"** The clone inside gave screams after screams until he was dispelled.

Iruka stared at Yasei incredulously, "Incredible, you performed a A rank Jutsu along with a C ranked genjutsu, but since Shadow Prison doubled the effect, the genjutsu became a B ranked Jutsu!"

Yasei grinned, and walked back to her two friends. "You should go next Hiretsuna."

Sighing, the boy nodded his head and walked up to the front. Iruka made another clone, _"This is going to be a long day, if these kids keep making my clones suffer, im going to die from Chakra exhaustion._"

"**Ninja Art: Shadow Binding!"** A shadow rose up from the ground, and attacked the clone; it wrapped around the clone, and had him bound up. Flashing through signs, Hiretsuna threw two kunais. Both flew on the opposite sides of the trapped target, and doing five quick hand signs, he thrusted both hands at the kunais and said,** "Ninja Art: Magnetic Metal Bonding!"**

The kunais flew towards each other, and hit the clones head on both sides. Everyone winced, and winced again as Hiretsuna made the weapons fly up, and hit the body on the eyes.

Iruka winced, as he was the one who made the clone in the first place, "That first jutsu was a B rank jutsu, and the second one was also a B ranked jutsu!"

Hiretsuna walked to Naruto and without warning, He grabbed Naruto and threw him to the front of the class. "I'll get you for this!" Naruto cursed Hiretsuna in mid air, he landed in front of Iruka, who folded his arms, "Well Naruto, are you ready?"

Naruto jumped up, and nodded his head, "Can I have five clones?"

Iruka merely made five clones and stood still, waiting for Naruto to make his move. Naruto put his fingers into a cross seal, and said **"Ninja Art: Shadow Clone Jutsu!"** Two Narutos appeared, and jumped up towards the clones. **"Ninja Art: Henge!"** The two Naruto's became a cloud that covered Iruka's clones. Naruto took out five shurikens and threw them at the floor, where a bunch of shadows converged. **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension!"** The stars flew through the shadows and reappeared from the clouds. While they were falling, Naruto did another seal and said, **"Ninja Art: Shuriken Duplication."**

The five shurikens became a hundred shurikens and they rained down onto the clones.

Piercing the clones, the shurikens buried themselves into the clones.

"Well done Naruto! You did two A rank Jutsus, one C rank Jutsu, and a D rank jutsu!"

**Since, I'm too lazy to write how the rest of the class does, and besides, they're not going to learn anything new. So… Time skipping to after everyone is done.**

"Well done everybody. As a reward to everyone, there will be no class tomorrow, so enjoy your day off everyone, class dismissed!"

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto, Yasei, and Hiretsuna.<strong>

The three sat on some tree stumps on a training ground, all three were staring at the Forbidden Scroll once again, deciding which jutsu they should learn next.

Naruto stared at a certain jutsu that appealed to him.

**Kage Dobutsu: Shadow animals.** _This jutsu allows you to make a shadow copy of an animal of your selection. These animal clones are just like a regular shadow clone in terms of endurance, but they will only listen to you and act like an ordinary animal._

Hiretsuna saw a jutsu that he deemed as very interesting.

**Kage Tatari: Shadow Haunting:**_ This jutsu allows you to see or hear from another shadow, but your body will be unconscious when this move is used."_

Yasei looked at the Forbidden Scroll's elemental jutsu parts and saw a few techniques that piqued her interest.

**Suiso Dangan: Hydrogen Bullet:** _By gathering the water and air around you, you can compress them together to create a stronger material and shoot it towards the enemy, If hit, the wounded area will freeze up._

**Kori No Manto: Ice Cloak:**_ When the user activates this jutsu, they will be able to gather the moisture in the air, and turn it into Ice. The more chakra inputted the stronger and longer the ice will last._

Yasei grinned, summoning nine other clones, she set five clones working on the first jutsu, while the four clones helped her learn the second Jutsu.

**With Naruto**

"**Ninja Art: Shadow Animal!"** Naruto slammed his hand onto the floor. In a poof of smoke, a dark shadow copy of a fox appeared, staring at Naruto. Naruto jumped in the air with joy, but then suddenly his Yajisume pulsed with Chakra, and the shadow fox began to ripple. The fox began to rush towards Naruto, yelping, the boy tried to dispel the shadow, but the fox jumped onto him, and disappeared into the Yajisume.

The claws gave out a stronger pulse, knocking out Naruto. _"What the hell happened?"_ Naruto thought to himself as he fell down.

**Inside his Mindscape.**

The Kyuubi gave a ruffle inside his cage, yawning, he stared outside the cage, where a seal appeared, _**"So it's finally time huh."**_

Naruto woke up inside a dark place which looked a lot like a sewer, looking around, Naruto saw a cage with a seal on it, and on the other side, he saw a huge seal. The kanji on the cage read "Yang Block" while the other seal read "Spirit".

Walking over to the middle, he saw something move inside the cage, he jumped back, and stared closely at what was inside. His face got paler and paler as he realized what the shape was; his mouth gasped in horror, and then said one thing, "Kyuubi?"

"_**Oh ho, it looks like you're not so dumb after all my dear jailer."**_

Naruto began to whimper, his finger shook as he pointed at the beast, "I thought you were killed by the Yondaime!"

"_**As if I could be killed by a mortal, to answer your question, I was sealed, but let's talk about a different topic. I believe you are here to find out the spirit of your weapon."**_

Naruto gulped, "Spirit?" He asked.

"_**Indeed, all weapons have a spirit; humans just tend to not listen closely enough to them to figure it out. Now turn around and meet your spirit."**_

"Wait, why are you helping me? Aren't you supposed to be some sort of evil being?"

The Kyuubi chuckled, _**"Let's just say, all is not what it seems to be. Now, go meet your spirit. All will be revealed at a later time."**_

"If this is some trick, I swear I'll get back you!" Naruto glared at the fox, and then turned around to see the supposed spirit.

Naruto walked up to the seal, and watched as the seal pulsed with more energy each time. Suddenly, the seal gave a big pulse, and it stopped, Naruto looked on, confused, and then heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, and was met with the sight of an animal that walked towards Naruto. With each step, the floor under it turned black, and the eyes glowed white with power. The body seemed to flicker, like how a ghost would flicker. The animal stared at Naruto, and then he realized what the animal was. "My weapon's spirit is a cat?" he asked at the Kyuubi.

"_**I am no mere cat, I am the spirit of the Kitsuko, the protector of all felines, I am Inuhoozuki!"**_

* * *

><p><strong>Fin<strong>

**Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Ideas would be nice, so if you would be so kind, please review on what you would like to be put into the story.**


	5. The Realization

**Welcome back to the Zodiac**

**Previously on the Zodiac:**

"My weapon's spirit is a cat?" he asked at the Kyuubi.

"_**I am no mere cat, I am the spirit of the Kitsuko, the protector of all felines, I am Inuhoozuki!"**_

* * *

><p>"Inuhoozuki?" Naruto questioned.<p>

The spirit cat raised an eyebrow, _**"So you can hear my name now."**_

Naruto just shrugged, "You said it out loud yourself, why wouldn't I be able to hear it?"

Inuhoozuki shook his head, _**"If you were not ready to harness my powers, then my name would be censored out, so you would not be able to hear my name, but enough talk, I Inuhoozuki, hereby grant you my powers to use for either evil or justice."**_After saying that, the cat's spirit form began to waver, and then flew back inside the seal.

Naruto stared at the Kyuubi for answers, but instead of getting them, his vision began to blacken out and he heard one last thing before his visions failed altogether, _**"Don't die out there kit."**_

Naruto woke up to one of his clones slapping his face. "Yo original, snap out of it!"

Naruto grumbled and got up from the floor shaking his head. Naruto started to resume his training when he heard voices from inside his head, _**"Start training with the Yajisume while using my power kid."**_

Naruto mentally nodded, and brought out his Yajisume. Words popped up to his head mentally, and he repeated the words out loud, "Curse your enemies to eternal darkness, Inuhoozuki!"

Yasei and Hiretsuna turned their heads towards to Naruto, confusion etched on their face. Confusion turned to horror as Naruto's claws became pure dark and they emitted black wisps. Naruto stared at his two hands in surprise. The two friends opened their mouths to say something, when their weapons began to shine, voices were also heard in their heads as well, and they shouted the words.

"Hunt your prey to the far North, Hyosetsu!"

"Trap your target in a rocky prison, Kinzokuken!"

Yasei's Shusume emitted an icy mist, and the claws froze over.

Hiretsuna's chain and sickle became a detachable naginata.

**A/N: For those who don't know what a Naginata is, it's pretty much a spear but the head is a long curved blade. It's actually a complete ripoff from Bleach's character Madarame Ikkaku's weapon. Call me a copy cat, but I call myself lazy.**

Naruto stared at his two friends, "You guys too?"

The faces all shared the same look, amazement, "Do you think we're the only people with this?"

**At that exact moment, somewhere else.**

"Shine your light on the damned, Tenshirei!"

A light shined in the person's hand and out came a great oaken bow with a quiver. The quiver however, had arrows made of light and it never seemed to run out of ammunition.

"How in the world did this happen?"

**Back to the three friends.**

Talking to each other about their newly advanced weapons. Hiretsuna was the happiest, "I never liked using a chain and sickle, it was just too confusing."

Yasei laughed, and then she got serious, "Do you think we should tell anyone about our weapons?"

Naruto nodded his head, "It'll be kick ass if we do! Just imagine everyone's jealous face!"

Hiretsuna shook his head, "No, then everyone would try to steal our weapons to see if it works for them, and if it doesn't, then theres a chance they might permanently relocate the weapons so we can never use them."

Yasei and Naruto thought about it, and then agreed with their logical friend. "Ugh, it'd be so nice if we could of use it though,"

"We can use it, we'll just have to pretend it's a special technique of ours, everyone will believe that Yasei and I have specialized weapons, as they fit our clans quite well, and Naruto, you're the number one unpredictable ninja am I right? We can trust our parents with this. For now, let's just head home to try and figure out our new powers."

Naruto nodded his head, "This is going to be sweet!"

**Back at Home**

Opening the door, Naruto walked into his home, "Uncle Fuza! I have something serious to show you."

Fearing the worst, the uncle rushed towards Naruto, "What is it? Are you hurt? Did something bad happen?"

Naruto shook his head and merely showed him his Yajisume. Words coming naturally to him, he stated, "Curse your enemies to eternal darkness, Inuhoozuki!"

With a burst of darkness, Naruto's Yajisume bursted into shadows and Fuzakeru stumbled backwards, shocked by the instant change in the claws.

Fuzakeru stared at the claws in amazement, "So you can hear your spirit?" He whispered,

The blonde nodded his head, "Yea, and he told me he was the protector of the Kitsuko Clan."

Eyes widening at the name, Fuzakeru thought to himself, _"This boy, is just too much. Atleast he isn't getting spoiled atleast."_

"Well Naruto, it is very rare for someone of your age to hear your weapons spirit, and our clan's spirit nonetheless. If you haven't noticed, all thirteen clans have a specific spirit guardian. They appear every generation. Now, why don't you go to the dojo and try communicating with Inuhoozuki."

Naruto gave a salute to his uncle, and ran towards the Dojo. Slamming the door to it, he sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. "Curse your enemies to Eternal Darkness, Inuhoozuki!"

* * *

><p><strong>Inside his mindscape<strong>

Naruto walked up to the spirit, who seemed to be waiting patiently. _**"So you are back, you intend to research my powers am I right?"**_

Naruto merely nodded his head, earning a purr from the spirit. The astral cat nodded his head, _**"So be it then, let me inform you on what you need to know."**_

"_**First of all, every weapon has a spirit, some spirits decide to wait for their owners to listen to them, and some decide to speak up to their owners. If the owner does not have the right, he or she will not be able to hear us."**_

"How do you gain the right?" Naruto asked,

"_**To gain the right is to use us for Justice, not for evil causes, but you must also have the potential and power. However, all spirits have a different requirement. To unlock me, you had to have the guts to never give up."**_

"Never give up? That was it?" Naruto deadpanned.

"_**As easy as it sounds, it is actually harder to prove."**_

"_**Let's get back on task, in your current state, your weapon is in the Gentai form. There are three main forms. Gentei, Kodona, and the last form; Keimó.**_

"_**Gentai is when the spirit imbues some power into the weapon, depending on the spirit, it can either give the weapon an attribute, or change the weapons shape. To activate the Genkai state, you chant the spiritual words."**_

"_**Kodona is the second state. In this phase, the spirit further enhances the weapon by giving the weapon magical properties. By chanting the words, you can activate a spell that corresponds to your spirit's element."**_

"_**The third state, Keimó, boosts destructive and magical properties of the weapon. The owner gets a speed and reaction boost. Each weapon will gain a special ability."**_

Soaking in all the knowledge given to given to him. Naruto looked at the spirit. "So those words, Curse 'your enemies to Eternal Darkness'is the magical chant needed to summon the Gentei form?"

"_**Correct."**_

"So how do I unlock the Kodona stage?" The blonde questioned.

The spiritual animal only shook his head, _**"I cannot tell you that, you must learn by experience, all I can say is, to unlock a new stage, you must sacrifice something."**_

"Sacrifice something? What do you mean?"

"_**Enough talk, I did not wish to talk to you about this; it is time you learn how to use the Gentai's powers in battle. I will create training dummies, and you will learn how to harness my powers."**_

Naruto heard a poof of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, he saw at least fifty humanoid dolls; the cat told him they were similar to a human, but they would not strike.

"_**For the first lesson, you shall learn about the illusion arts. I will relay the needed information to your mind, and you will need to act accordingly to them."**_

Naruto stared at the first dummy, when the voice inside his head whispered out commands, Naruto jumped into the air. **"The Dawn rises, the Night falls, From the West to the East, Sakkaku Arts: Nise No Itami!"**

A pitch black arrow was forced out from Naruto's hand, and hit the humanoid's chest head on. Screaming, the target scratched at the place where it struck, but to Naruto's amazement, there was nothing.

"_**The illusion arts I am teaching is strong enough to make the victim feel like it actually did happen."**_

"Ah, that would explain it."

"_**Onto the next Naruto, I want you to learn atleast nine more techniques to perfection by the end of the day."**_

Paling, Naruto thought to himself, _"It's going to be a long day, I'm going to be out of Chakra when im done with this."_

"_**First of all, these illusion arts do not use Chakra; they use a special energy called Seikatsu. All beings have Seikatsu, now get back to the training, I want you to use them so much, you're going to know the chants by heart."**_

"Slave driver" Naruto muttered to himself,_** "What was that?" **_

"I said, I got it."

Naruto stared at the next dummy. **"Dark as the night sky, bright as the day sun, as time goes on, so does** **fear! Sakkaku Arts: Sosa Seishin!"**

The dummy eyes glazed over, and he crumpled to the floor. Scratching his head, the boy asked his spirit, "What did that do?"

"_**Sosa Seishin is a move that locks the opponent mind into a nightmare. The weaker the opponent, the stronger the illusion. However, the stronger the enemy, the weaker the illusion.**_

Understandingly, Naruto moved onto the next dummy. Waiting for the command, Naruto stood still, staring intently at the humanoid.

"**One cannot understand the hardships of others until he himself has gone through it. Sakkaku Arts:** **Itami No Hako!"**

Naruto watched on as wall by wall formed, forming a box with the dummy in the middle. One by one, swords floated up, and pierced the box. Once the swords pierced the box, Naruto heard screaming, each intensifying with each thrust. Naruto winced along with each scream, trying to cover his ears. _**"One must be accustomed to suffering in order to survive in this harsh world."**_

"I know, it's just that, it feels like I killed someone."

"_**That is because you did, even though these are not truly humans, they still have lives, and you have just relinquished one of them from their life."**_

"You mean, they're not actually dummies?" Naruto looked at the carcass in shock, bile piled up in his throat. Running away from the corpse, Naruto fell to the floor and with a shout of disgust; he began to vomit out his stomach's content. Once the torrent of his past dinner finished, he shakily started back up, disbelief, horror, and sorrow in his eyes, he asked Inuhoozuki, "I know a ninja is supposed to kill, but is the first kill always supposed to be as hard as this?"

The cat nodded his head, _**"I would be worried if you did not react the same way you did now, how ironic you experience one of the world's hardships by reciting a chant about hardships."**_

Naruto slapped himself, "I understand what you're saying, and I understand I have to get over this if I want to be a successful ninja." With one last look at the body, Naruto etched the sight into his brain, never forgetting it, and he hoped he never would.

Inuhoozuki gave a meow, and the body disappeared, leaving Naruto to face off against the next humanoid. Naruto gave a gulp as the next few words popped up in his mind.

"**The Physical eye is blind, but the mental eye is not! Sakkaku Arts: Yami No Jōshō!"**

A mist of dark dog rolled over to the dummy, and Naruto could not see what was happening inside. "I'm guessing this leaves the person blind?"

Earning a nod from the spirit, Naruto was about to issue the next chant when he suddenly felt drowsiness. Slumping to the floor, he gave a groan, "I feel so tired."

"_**It is your first time using Seikatsu, it is to be expected to feel tired after chanting one spiritual art after another. I was surprised to see that you could chant four before you wore out. Rest assured, you will heal in a few minutes. However, that is enough for one meditation period, I will see you tomorrow."**_

As he said that, the cat slowly dissolved into nothing, and Naruto eyes began to flicker. "So…Sleepy…" Naruto murmured. Finally, the eyes shot closed, and slight snoring was heard.

**Back at the Dojo.**

Fuzakeru walked in, hoping to see progress being done, but instead, he saw a snoring boy on the floor, sighing, he picked up the boy and started for Naruto's bedroom.

Slowly setting him down, Fuzakeru walked out the room, and into his own. Drifting to sleep, he wondered what the future would hold for the them.

* * *

><p><strong>The next day.<strong>

"Oy Naruto! We're going to be late!" Hiretsuna called out, throwing a rock through the window.

With a bonk, the stone hit Naruto in the head, and he flew up with a crash, "Enemy attack!" He screamed, and dove for the bed covers. Yasei gave a sigh, "Naruto, there is not enemy attacking, now get your butt out here!"

"Yes ma'am! Sorry ma'am!" Naruto stumbled down, grabbing a quick bite of food and rushing out the door.

"Sorry guys, I spent yesterday talking with my spirit." Naruto explained, walking towards them.

Yasei and Hiretsuna stared at each other, "We did too, my spirit kept teaching me how to fight with Taijutsu." Yasei said.

Hiretsuna nodded, my spirit taught me some weird Ninjutsus."

Naruto laughed, "Isn't it awesome how we're being taught by spirits?"

"Whats more awesome is that we're each being taught a difference type of ninja art, it's like we're being molded into a special team that does all." Yasei commented.

Hiretsuna decided to put in his two cents, "That may be right, but it doesn't mean we should be just concentrate on a single ninja art. We should try to be proficient at all."

Naruto gave a slight whine, "But isn't there a saying, 'jack of all trades, master of none?'"

Hiretsuna gave a small nod, and replied, "Yea that's true, but the three ninja arts are skills that every ninja should be proficient at at the least."

Yasei thoughtfully pondered the words, and then said, "Yea I guess that's true, but we should still try to concentrate on the things our spirits are teaching us right?"

"Yea."

Naruto waved at the two from up ahead, "Come on you two! We're going to be late to class!"

Staring at his watch, Hiretsuna cursed, "Shit! He's right, come on Yasei, we're going to be late!"

Yasei only said, "Don't worry, watch this."

"**Flow like the water, move like the wind, Butsuri Arts: Oto No Hikayu!"**

Yasei gave a roar and in a instant, she disappeared in a flicker, and the next instant, Hiretsuna felt a pull on his shirt.

"Oh crap!" Hiretsuna cried as he was suddenly aware that he was being pulled across the town. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a whitish blue bullet dashed towards him, he tried to jump away from the path, but he tripped over a rock, and was jerked alongside Hiretsuna.

"What the hell is going on?" Screamed Naruto to his fellow friend.

Hiretsuna only just said one word, "Yasei."

They both heard Yasei grunt, "It's one of the special moves my spirit taught me, it allows me to go at a supersonic speed, but at my current level, I can only go at this speed for ten seconds."

"And it looks like the ten seconds are up." She continued, and then she skidded to a stop.

Naruto and Hiretsuna flew forward, instead of stopping like Yasei did. With a crash, they both slammed into a wall, slowly slumping down. "If I wasn't in so much pain right now, I'd be yelling at you Yasei." Muttered Hiretsuna, Naruto agreed silently, and then crashed down to the floor.

"Oh stop being such wimps, both of you." Yasei answered. She grabbed the both of them by the shirts again and pulled them straight up, "I got us to the academy with a few minutes to spare. Now let's get going."

* * *

><p><strong>At the classroom<strong>

The two boys stumbled to the chairs in the back, where their friends Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru and Chouji awaited. "Oh man, what happened to you guys, it looks like you two went through the meat grinder." Kiba commented, with his dog Akamaru barking in agreement.

Naruto only pointed at Yasei, "Girls, always so troublesome," Shikamaru said lazily, opening one way at them.

"What was that you lazy ass?" Screeched Ino.

"I said chores are troublesome."

Ino gave a humph, "That better be what you said, Now get out of my way! I want to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"

Another high pitched voice was heard, "Oh no you don Ino-Pig! I was here first so that means I get to sit next to him!" Sakura screamed.

Ino threw a book at Sakura, "That's a lie and you know it! My toe entered the room first!"

Naruto slowly got angrier and angrier as the two girls screamed their arguments back and forth, with him in the middle. Finally, his patience was stretched to the extremes, and then it snapped.

"Will you two shut up! You're killing everyones ear drums here!" He screamed.

Simultaneously, Ino and Sakura snapped at the unfortunate boy, "No you!" they screeched, and threw a book at him. He was about to dodge it when he heard Hinata gasp, _Hinata-chan is behind me, if I dodge it, it'll hurt her!"_ With less than a moment's hesitation, Naruto slapped the book away from himself; unfortunately, it flew across the room and hit Sasuke's face. The room went quiet as the book hit Sasuke with a loud slap, and the room temperature went down by twenty degrees.

"Who…threw that book?"

The whole class pointed at Sakura and Ino.

The two girls screamed in denial, "Yea we did throw it, but we threw it at Naruto, who hit it towards you!"

Sasuke gave a grunt, "Tch, I should of figured you would do that, you couldn't resist being jealous of an Uchiha's elite status. Bet you were jealous that every girl of our age is in love with me, especially your friend Yasei and that girl next to you, Hinata."

Hinata gave a small eep, and began to blush. Yasei cracked her knuckles dangerously, about to inflict damage to the arrogant prick when Hiretsuna put an arm in front of her. Yasei looked up to him in surprise, and saw hatred in his face. Naruto slammed his hands on the table, "No one gets to talk about my friends that way, you can insult me as much as you want, but talking that way about my friends is just crossing the line! Outside Uchiha!"

Smirking, the Uchiha stepped out of the classroom, and waited for Naruto.

Naruto leaped out of the window and stared down the boy with enough hatred to kill two times over. Hiretsuna called out, "This will be a anything goes match, the first one to submit loses. On your marks, get set, go!"

Naruto brought out his Yajisume and cried out the words, **"Curse your enemies to Eternal Darkness, Inuhoozuki!"**

Much too almost everyone's fright, Naruto's hands were engulfed in darkness and much to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto shot towards him. Flipping backwards, Sasuke dodged the punch that was thrown at his face. Delivering a kick to Naruto's stomach, he watched as the boy flew back a few feet. Sasuke ran through a series of hand seals, and inhaled, **"Ninja Art: Grand Fireball!"** Putting his fingers to his lips, he blew out a fifteen feet high and wide fireball. Hinata gave a quiet scream as the fireball hit her secret crush.

Suddenly, the fireball was canceled out, with Naruto standing in the middle of the old fireball with nothing on him burning. Half the class cheered for Naruto as he flew towards the Uchiha once again. Naruto's Yajisume nicked Sasuke on the arm, and then that's when things went downhill for the Uchiha.

"My arm! I can't move my right arm! What the hell did you do to them?" He roared at the blonde.

Naruto stared at his weapon, "My Yajisume has the ability to lock a person's body functions depending on where it hits. The weaker the enemy, the longer it'll last."

Sasuke gnashed his teeth and desperately tried to force his right arm to move. Naruto ran up towards Sasuke once again, and aimed for the left arm this time. Sasuke however, planned this, and managed to kick the Yajisume out of the way. "Once I beat your ass into the ground, I'm going to show you how an elite can get whatever he wants, whenever he wants, starting with those two girls."

Inside his mind, Naruto snapped, the Yajisume became darker and then words began to whisper into his brain. Repeating them quietly, slowly getting louder and louder, Naruto recited, **"One will love, the other will hate, when the hate turns to love, power shall be born, Jōkyū Reberu Wa, Akutibu Ni!"**

Instantly, Naruto's Yajisume dark color intensified. Naruto raised the weapon to his eye and whispered, **"The Physical eye is blind, but the mental eye is not! Sakkaku Arts: Yami No Jōshō!" **

The dark fog rushed towards Sasuke, and he nearly escaped from it, but he tripped on the floor and was attacked by the fog, screaming in terror, the Uchiha screamed, "Is this another of your damned sorcery? Robbing me of my sight?"

Naruto jumped high into the air, and when he reached maximal height, he started to fall. Faster and faster he got, and when he was about to smash into Sasuke, Iruka appeared in front of him, grabbing the attacker; he tossed Naruto into a tree, and kicked Sasuke backwards. Fortunately for Naruto, he wasn't hurt much, unfortunately for Iruka, he was nicked slightly near the chest.

"_What _the hell do you two think you were _doing__?_" Roared Iruka.

Sasuke finally escaped from the fog and only said, "the dobe started it."

Naruto's mouth opened and closed, then realizing he was in fact the one who started it technically, grumbled and stood still. Iruka turned towards Naruto, still steaming but was calm enough to listen to reason, "Is this true Naruto?"

Nodding his head once, Naruto began to explain how the whole ordeal started. Iruka closed his eyes, and gave a sigh, "Alright, as for your punishments, Sasuke and Naruto, you both will run around the school twenty times. Sakura and Ino, you two will clean the classroom after school ends, am I _clear_?

The four grimly muttered out a yes and the class started to file in to the classroom. For the rest of the day, the whole class stared at Sasuke and Naruto with both admiration and annoyance. Hinata sat next to Naruto, and each time she looked over to Naruto, she would blush red and turn back to her desk, poking her fingers with each other.

When the bell rung, Naruto was about to start his punishment when he felt his clothes being pulled back. He stared down at the person responsible and saw Hinata with her arm on his shirt, her face staring down on the floor.

"Yea Hinata-chan?"He asked, then instantly thought about what he said, _"Hinata-chan? Oh crap how did that slip out? She'll probably think I'm some kind of weirdo!"_

Hinata heard the suffix added to her name and blushed, luckily she didn't pass out, and neither did Naruto see her blush intensify, "I j-just wanted to t-te-tell you th-thank you." She whispered, secretly hoping that she wouldn't faint.

Naruto only smiled and gave her a small hug, "It's problem Hinata-chan!" _"She didn't do anything out of the ordinary; I guess it's safe to add chan to her name."_ And then another thought came into his mind, _"She smells nice. Wait wait wait, bad thoughts, get the hell out of my mind, I'm not a pervert!"_

Naruto was about to say something when he felt an irregular shift in balance, he looked down at Hinata and found out she fainted, "Oh crap Hinata-chan! Are you alright? Did I do something wrong? Where's the nurse when you need one?" He practically ran out the door with her in his arms, rushing to find the school's nurse.

Back in the classroom, Yasei stared at her secret crush run out of the classroom with Hinata. Tears threatened to leak out from her eyes, _"I knew it, I never had a chance with Naruto,"_ She was about to lose it right there in the class room, and saw Hiretsuna with a tissue box in his hand. Leading her outside, when they were outside of everyone's eye range, Hiretsuna gave Yasei a hug. Eyes widening in surprise, Yasei managed to say, "Hi-Hiretsuna? Whats wrong?"

Hiretsuna only hugged her even tighter and said four words, "Yasei, I love you."

* * *

><p><strong>Fin<strong>

**How do you like the story so far?**

**Love it? Hate it? Either way, it's still an obsession. I thank you for giving me helpful hints on the story and I hope to meet your expectations, for now. I'm heading out. Peace.**


	6. The Announcement

**Welcome back to more Zodiac. I hope you enjoy this story so far.**

**Previously on Zodiac:**

_Hiretsuna gave Yasei a hug. Eyes widening in surprise, Yasei managed to say, "Hi-Hiretsuna? Whats wrong?"_

_Hiretsuna only hugged her even tighter and said four words, "Yasei, I love you."_

**Now back to more Zodiac.**

* * *

><p>Hiretsuna only hugged her even tighter and said four words, "Yasei, I love you."<p>

Stuttering up a storm, Yasei's face grew redder and redder, "You can't mean that!"

Shaking his head, Hiretsuna only said, "Yes I do mean it, I just never said it because I knew you liked Naruto."

Yasei looked up at the confessor, "Why didn't you?" She asked.

"I wanted you to be with Naruto, so you can be happy, and to me, your happiness is more than enough for me."

The girl eyes teared up again, and then she buried her head into his chest, crying softly. "You baka." She murmered.

Hiretsuna stayed quiet, only running his hands through her light blue hair softly. Over and over the hand went, and slowly, Yasei raised her head. She stared at her friend, and Hiretsuna had no idea what to expect. Rejection? Acception? He didn't know, but whatever it was, as long as she was happy, that would be enough for him.

Leaning towards Hiretsuna's face, she closed her eyes. Hiretsuna's mind didn't know what to do, but his body reacted before he could realize it. His face leaned in towards her, and slowly, the two faces met each other at the lips. The moment was only for a short while, but to them, it had felt like forever to them. Both people hugging each other tightly, the kiss was lengthened, and they were content.

Reluctantly, Yasei pulled apart, Hiretsuna looked surprised, and then realized what he had just done, "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have done that! Please forgive me!" His eyes went down, and he expected Yasei to run away from him. When he heard nothing, he slowly turned his head up, and saw Yasei tearing up again.

Yasei began to tear up, and Hiretsuna instantly began to comfort her, he hugged her once more, and slowly, they sank to the floor. The boy leaned against a tree trunk, with the girl hugging him. Sniffles became small tear drops, and small tear drops became a full grown cry.

After a while, she went quiet, with the occasional hiccups. Hiretsuna mind was going into overdrive, thinking of possible things to do, things to say, and then it all became clear, he would say it. "Are you okay?"

Yasei nodded silently, and Hiretsuna only awkwardly said one word, "Oh."

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes dragged to longer minutes. Yasei lay there, cuddling with Hiretsuna, and he only kept hugging onto the girl. She was all that mattered. Quietness reigned for a long time, and the Hiretsuna said something to break the ice, "So…how are you feeling?"

"I feel better now, thanks to you."Yasei mumbled.

"Are you feeling well enough to get up now?"

"But you're so warm right now," she pouted.

Chuckling, Hiretsuna slowly got up, much to her displeasure, extending a hand towards his friend, he said, "Shall we?"

Yasei took the hand gratefully and pulled herself up, as she got up, her memory had finally caught up with her. She had just kissed Hiretsuna, and had hugged him for god knows how long. She turned away in embarrassment, and then suddenly felt sudden warmth. Reaching around her shoulders, she felt a jacket on her, she turned to see Hiretsuna without his jacket, and his face smiling, "Thank you" She whispered.

* * *

><p>Only nodding a head to acknowledge the thanks, he only said, "No problem, now let's get to Naruto, he's probably done with his punishment by now."<p>

Yasei nodded and then thought of something, "What do you think Naruto will say now that we're together?"

Hiretsuna shrugged, "I don't even know what goes on his brain most of the time."

Giggling, Yasei turned to the front of the school, where Naruto would be waiting if he was done, "let's go." She beckoned Hiretsuna to follow him, and follow he did.

They reached the school gates, where they saw their teacher Iruka walk out. "Iruka-sensei, do you know where Naruto is?" Hiretsuna asked politely.

Iruka gave an irritated sigh, and pointed towards the Infirmary, "how he doesn't realize Hinata has feelings for him I'll never know."

All three nodded their heads, they all knew how dense Naruto was, Yasei especially. Biding good bye to their teacher, they walked towards the infirmary and had opened to the door just to see Naruto staring with concern at the still unconscious Hyuuga.

* * *

><p>"She's still not awake?" Hiretsuna asked, surprise an amusement on his eyes."<p>

"Nope" Naruto answered, staring at his two friends. And then his eyes saw the two holding hands, "What the hell! When did you two get with each other?" Cried Naruto in shock.

"Oh we were holding hands?" Yasei asked, staring downwards. Her hand was currently intertwined with Hiretsuna's hand.

"You didn't realize that? You're the one grabbed my hand in the first place."

"That's beside the point, how's Hinata?" Yasei asked quickly, her face turning pink.

Naruto only shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the unconscious girl, "She's been like that ever since I asked her if she was alright."

"Excuse me?"

"She woke up once, and I put my hand to her forehead to see if she had a fever, but then she squeaked and fell unconscious once again. I'm starting to think she has a fever."

Slamming his head against the wall, Hiretsuna muttered about how dense his team mate was.

Before Naruto could ask about what was happening, they heard the bed sheets move.

"Ngh, wh-where am I?" whispered a small quiet voice.

"Hinata-chan! You're awake!" Naruto boomed and began to hug her. "I thought you had some kind of sickness!"

The poor girl was on the verge of fainting for the third time when Yasei pulled Naruto off of him. "You're going to kill her Naruto."

Internally whining at the loss of contact, Hinata rose from the bed. "What ha-happened?" She asked.

Naruto pulled off Yasei's arms and replied, "You fainted right after class ended!"

Hinata's memory awoke, and her face became pink. "Oh." Was all she could say.

The nurse came into the room, and saw that the Hyuuga was finally awake, "If you're all better now, it's time for you all to go home now."

The four kids were shooed out, leaving them outside, with the trees blowing. "So… I guess I'll see you tomorrow Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto.

The girl blushed red, and with a small nod, Naruto smiled, "Great! See you tomorrow then! Come on you two!" He yelled at his two friends, who slowly walked behind Naruto and Hinata, so they could give the two some alone time.

Leaving Hinata on her way home, the trio started their trek home. "You know, you two really make a nice couple." Naruto commented.

Yasei blushed a fiery red and bonked Naruto on the head, "I don't need you to tell me that!"

Hiretsuna smiled behind his hand, and tried not to laugh, "Instead of training at the grounds today, let's train with our spirits again."

"I'm fine with that!" Naruto voiced, with his fist out in the air.

Without saying anything else, Naruto sped his way home, leaving the two other team mates alone. "Were you serious about the spirit training? Or was this a way to get us some time alone?"

Hiretsuna stared at her, "can't it be both?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Yasei responded with a giggle, "I guess, so… what do you want to do?"

Hiretsuna stared blankly at his girlfriend, "I was hoping you would decide."

* * *

><p><strong>Back with Naruto.<strong>

With a quick greeting to his uncle and then rushing towards the dojo, Naruto sat on the floor and closed his eyes.

**In his mindscape.**

"_**You are back, excellent, now let us resume the training, I presume you still remember the first few chants?"**_

Nodding his head, the blonde asked the sentient being, "What are the next few chants Sensei?"

"_**The next five are illusion chants you humans call Genjutsu, the two after that are damage inflicting ones. Now repeat after me."**_

"**Under the moonlight I shall grow, like the desert's mirage I will appear, but under the sunlight I will go, I am what you fear! Sakkaku Arts: Natsujikan Naitomea!"**

Naruto felt a wave of cold air and then he saw the humanoid freeze up in fright. "What's wrong with him?" He asked.

Inuhoozuki waved his tail around, _**"It pretty much makes the opponent think you're its worst nightmare."**_

"That seems useless in a battle situation."

"_**Get back to the chants"**_

"**The Shinigami has spoken, your judgment has been decided, and should you never be woken! Sakkaku Arts: Suimin Totsuzen!"**

Naruto slammed his hands together, and feathers started to fall, the target eyes fluttered open and closed slowly, and then, it fell to the floor, asleep. "That's an interesting genjutsu to use." Naruto commented.

"_**It won't work if the enemy is too strong, but if you are stronger, then it has a bigger chance of succeeding."**_

"I see, how big is the range on this illusion?"

"_**The more chakra you put the more range it has."**_

"I need a definite answer."

"_**You'll get a definite answer later when you master the first ten chants."**_

Naruto grumbled, "Slave driver." He muttered to himself. Before the cat could say something in reply, Naruto began to recite the next chant, **"Trees made of wood last long, but the trees made of bones last forever. You shall perish with this song! Sakkaku Arts: Hone No Ki!"**

From underneath the ground of the dummy, a tree made completely of bone rose, and the bones wrapped around the limbs, rendering it completely immobile no matter how much it struggled.

Naruto didn't stop there, the next chant was sent into his brain, **"Behind the light shadows will rise, and behind the shadows nothing will remain, so run away if you be wise! Sakkaku Arts: Yami No Senpu!"**

A whirlwind that was completely black engulfed the still stuck humanoid, and Naruto could hear it screaming inside. "What exactly does that whirlwind do?" Naruto asked his teacher, _**"That whirlwind makes the person believe that with each whirl, a blade made of shadows will slash at him. The brain will know the pain is fake, but the body will think it is real."**_

The blonde gave an understanding nod, and began to think about how he could use them in a battle and who he could use it on.

"_**I can hear what you are thinking, and as much as I approve, you need to pay attention."**_

Murmuring his apologies, Naruto focused closely on the next target._**"This next and last Genjutsu for now will cause the target to confuse his enemies for friends and friends for enemies."**_

"**The shadows will beckon you, your friends will be forsaken, don't run, lest you be too! Sori No Yūjin"**

The humanoid blankly stared back at Naruto. "Why isn't it working?" Naruto asked the cat.

Scratching it's head with its tail, it realized the answer, _**"Oh right, it is because these humanoids have no friends in the first place, neither do they have enemies."**_

"Should of told me that sooner." Naruto said, annoyance in his voice.

"_**Be quiet, I was just trying to test your common knowledge. As much as I want for you to continue your training, it is time for you to learn more. As your friend said, you will not get far just by doing illusions alone, I will teach you much more about how to use your Yajisume and some ninjutsu."**_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>I will first teach you how to use your Yajisume, today, you will learn how to use the Kitsuko Clan's favorite style; The Ito Style. This style will use the enemy's strength against himself."<strong>_

"And how will I learn this?" Naruto asked.

Suddenly, a humanoid holding a sword appeared right in front of him.

"_**This dummy has more functions than a regular dummy; I can mentally link myself to it, and it will follow my instructions. Enough talk, en garde!"**_

Naruto yelped as the dummy jumped towards him, sword outstretched. Bringing his Yajisume up, the sword glanced off it and hit the floor. Naruto mind went into chaos as the dummy brought the sword slashing towards his legs, about to jump the cat hissed, _**"Do not jump, it leaves you defenseless, I will have to teach you the hard way then."**_

The dummy was dispelled, and Naruto felt visuals of different stances and scenarios being crammed into his brain.

"_**I will force your brain to see all the moves you will need, however, after this is done, you will experience extreme fatigue, this will last you quite a long time, as the Ito style is one of the few styles that is hard to master."**_

Naruto only screamed in pain as his brain was being overloaded. Passing out, his body hit the floor, with only one thought on his mind, _"I hate this."_

* * *

><p><strong>Fast forwarding to the next day at the academy.<strong>

"Alright class, it is time for us to do a shinobi exercise. Please follow me outside and I will tell you what the exercise will be about." Iruka exclaimed, slamming his hands on the desk.

The class filed outside, and saw a rope stretched across the place, with a hundred feet in diameter and three feet off the ground. Looking towards the teacher for an explanation, they began to whisper between themselves.

"This exercise will be used to see if you are capable of dodging various ranged weapons while running on limited space. Don't feel worried, the weapons used in this exercise will be perfectly safe, the worst injury you will suffer is if you fall off the rope and scrape your knee. In that case, suck it up and go get a bandage."

Naruto snickered and raised his hand, "Yes Naruto?" Iruka asked.

"Who goes first?"

Iruka held out a clipboard and said, "I will call out your names and you will try to get across without getting hit. You will start off with ten points, with every hit, you will lose one point, if there is a tie, then the person with the faster time will get an extra point. There will be five students shooting each time, so this will also determine your aiming capabilities. Shino Aburame, will you please go up?"

"Hai." Came a monotone voice, Shino calmly walked up to the beginning of the rope and stared at the teacher. Once the teacher yelled out Go, the Aburame sprinted towards the other end. Mini plunger type kunais came flying at him, some missing, some hitting him. The boy jumped towards the end and looked at the teacher, "May I ask how well I did Iruka-Sensei?"

Iruka stared at his stopwatch, "You got a time of forty three seconds and you got hit five times. Three hit you on the chest, one hit you on the leg, and one hit you on the head. If you were on a real mission, you would of died."

The boy stayed silent, he did not appear to be sad, but he did not appear to be happy either, no one could tell with the glasses and jacket he wore. "I understand Iruka-Sensei."

* * *

><p>"Good, now will Chouji Akimchi please come up?"<p>

Nervously walking up, the boy munched on a few chips to keep himself in check, while Shikamaru whispered encouraging words to his friend. Looking at Iruka, he took off when Iruka called out. Reaching the end panting, Chouji grabbed another bag of chips from seemingly nowhere and began to munch on them.

"You got a time of one minute and ten seconds, and you had gotten hit seven times. Fortunately, none of them were fatal, but still, five hits to the torso and two to the leg. That would kill you if you were left alone. Will Sakura Haruno please come up?"

Screaming out loud, the pink haired girl ran up to the rope, and stared at the teacher. Yasei smirked at the girl, with five kunais in her hand, _"This is going to be fun."_

With a bang, the girl tore across the rope, but when she had reached the middle, three kunais to the head hit her, one of them hitting the eye. Screaming, she fell off the rope, hitting the floor. Iruka shook his head, "Sakura Haruno, your time will not be counted, as you did not make it across. You got hit thirteen times. Three hitting your head, which would be an instant kill, two in the arms, two in the legs, four on the chest and two in the neck. I am sorry but you need to improve your shinobi skills."

Screaming in frustration, Sakura looked at the five people who threw the kunais. Pointing at three of them, which were conveniently Yasei, Shikamaru and Ino, she screeched, "Those three cheated Sensei! There's no way I could have gotten that low of a score!"

* * *

><p>"How troublesome."<p>

"Pft, face it forehead girl, you just suck as a kunoichi."

"The weather feels nice today."

Iruka grumbled, his hand on his face, and said, "No Sakura, I assure you, none of these children cheated, now please return to your seat, and please refrain from yelling. Will Hinata Hyuuga please come up?"

The lavender hair girl gave a small eep at the mention of her voice. She stumbled to the ropes, and then heard a voice behind her, "You can do it Hinata-Chan!"

With new found confidence, she blasted towards the other side of the rope, leaving the majority of the shooters confused on where she went, but Hiretsuna was not, tossing four kunais, two of them hit their marks on Hinata's leg, but she did not notice.

Iruka stared at his timer, "Very nice job Hinata! You got a time of thirty four seconds and had only three kunais hit you, none were fatal, but would still hamper your speed. Yasei Inufu, you're next!"

Yasei walked up to the rope confidently, with Hiretsuna yelling out encouragements from behind.

Sakura had a mad glint in her eye, she had been chosen to be one of the assaulters, and she was going for the kill.

"On your marks, get set, GO!"

Springing into action, Yasei flew by the ropes, with Sakura screaming madly, much to the displeasure of the kids next to her. With each kunai that missed, Sakura's rage grew. Bigger and bigger it got, and then, it snapped. Grabbing the bucket of kunais, she began to toss them three at a time madly, none of them hit, and Yasei got to the other side with ease.

"Sakura Haruno! What madness possessed you to throw the whole bucket in there? There was easily fifty extras in the bucket!"

Sakura gave her teacher a look, the one where the person being looked on is being pitied on. "Iruka-sensei, im sorry to say this, but she's obviously cheating. How could you not notice that with you being a teacher and all?"

The class gasped in unison, including the one who understood her best, Ino Yamanaka. The teacher eyes widened, "The nerve! You dare question my teaching capabilities? Look at the majority of your kunais! Almost none of them reached the rope! In fact, I don't even know how, but you even got kunais thrown behind you!"

The class went silent, then someone started to snicker, and instantaneously, the whole class began to roar in laughter.

The pink haired girl began to steam up in the face, turning swiftly to Yasei, she pointed almost crazily at her, "You bitch! I challenge you to a Konoha Showdown, with these kunais as the competition!"

The class' laughter died as fast as it started, Naruto looked around frantically, "Pst Hiretsuna, what the hell is a Konoha Showdown?"

Whispering back, the kid replied, "It's where one Konoha shinobi challenges the other to a match, to refuse is to lose one's pride."

Nodding in understanding, and then paling, "Then that means Yasei has to accept!"

Hiretsuna nodded as well, "She has to, or else lose face."

Iruka looked like he was on the verge of exploding, "I am very tempted to call your parents and deal with your behavior right away, but since you issued a Konoha Showdown, I will allow it just this once! But I will make the rules!"

* * *

><p>With a poof of smoke, a board appeared.<p>

First one to hit the other ten times with the kunais from afar wins.

Only Kawarimi and Henge jutsus are aloud.

No Taijutsu.

* * *

><p>Staring at the board, both kunoichis nodded their heads, and jumped into positions. Each girl had twenty kunais each, with a bucket that had an extra thirty in the middle.<p>

"On your Marks, Get set, go!"

Dashing towards Yasei, Sakura jumped into the air. _"Sensei never said anything about putting Chakra into the kunais. Hehe"_ She cackled almost manically, scaring several of the boys. Throwing them straight at her, everyone assumed Yasei would dodge it, and then throw her own. They were only half right.

Jumping to the side, she was about to throw her own kunais at the still airborne girl when she saw the kunais from the corners of her eyes suddenly turn directions, homing in on her. Tumbling backwards, she saw that they once again swerved suddenly at her. Grabbing on of them, she tossed them back at the original owner, only to see it come back towards her.

"Hey! Isn't that cheating?" A random kid cried out.

"No it is not cheating, however, I am amazed that she learned how to manipulate inanimate objects just by Chakra alone."Iruka said begrudgingly.

Yasei's ears perked up as she heard that bit of information._ "Maybe I could do the same._"

Forcing in some chakra into one of her kunais, she threw it at Sakura. Blocking it with another kunai, Sakura sneered, "Is that the best you got Bitch?"

Throwing two more chakra enforced kunais, Yasei said nothing. Slapping down the two incoming weapons, Sakura shook her head, "See Iruka-Sensei? She sucks at this, I told you she was cheating."

Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Yasei only said one thing, "Shut your goddam trap!"

Activating the kunais, two of them hit her eyes once again, blinding her; the third hit her in the mouth. Relentlessly, Yasei threw kunai after kunai at Sakura's face. Quickly announcing the Konoha Showdown to be over, Iruka rushed over to Yasei and quickly disarmed her of all her kunais. The class saw the satisfied look on her face, and then looked over to Sakura. Her face had been covered with kunais.

Screaming in frustration, Sakura's fist slammed onto the floor, "Why can't I pull these off?"

Yasei smirked, "I added Chakra, so they're going to be a bit harder to pull off."

Stifling his laughter, the teacher pulled off the kunais, leaving marks on Sakura's face, as if an octopus had wrapped its tentacles around her face.

"You're going to be stuck with this for the rest of the day, and you young lady, will be coming with me to the administrators office to have a talk with your parents."

Paling at the mention of her parents, she struggled and begged not to have a talk with her parents. But the teacher was set on having a talk.

Once the pink hair girl was out of sight, the class began to laugh out loud, "Did you see her face? Man she deserved that."

Hiretsuna and Naruto walked up to Yasei, "Good job Yasei! Sakura didn't know what hit her!" Naruto cheered. Hiretsuna was about to hug her when Sasuke walked up to her. "Hm, that was a nice job, almost befitting a person of the Uchiha status." Yasei twitched at the fact that she was being complimented by the Uchiha, but she somehow got herself calm.

"I know it's an honor but, I'd like to extend an arm towards you and invite you on a date."

Yasei mentally screamed in horror and wanted to puke. "I'm sorry but I will have to refuse."

Sasuke went on, "Great! When shall I pick yo-huh?" Rejection was not a word in his dictionary

"You heard right, I'm not going out with you." Gentle wasn't a word in her dictionary either.

Sasuke's eyes furrowed, "And why not? Do you realize the honor of being the date of an Uchiha?"

"I'm already taken by Hiretsuna." Came the reply.

"He's a nobody, ditch him and come join the elite!" Sasuke scoffed. Little did he know, that was the wrong thing to say.

* * *

><p>"You don't tell me that my boyfriend is a nobody!" She yelled, activating her weapon, <strong>"Hunt your prey to the far North, Hyosetsu!"<strong>

Sasuke stumbled back, slightly afraid of the power she was outputting. Not stopping, Yasei yelled out, **"The force of evil is great, but justice is here, and is never late! Butsuri Arts:** **Kōri no kyōfu!"**

A mist surrounded Sasuke, and the temperature dropped. "What did you do?" Naruto asked.

"It's a technique that makes the enemy think theres wolves in the mist, so it's pretty much a Genjutsu." She chirped happily.

They heard a boom from where Sasuke was, looking over, they saw Sasuke exhaling a fire ball from the floor, blowing away the mist, effectively canceling it.

"How did you do that? I command you to hand over that power to an Uchiha!" He roared.

"Why should I tell you other than the fact that you're an Uchiha?"

"Because I am the only one left!"

Yasei walked away, "I don't see the point still."

* * *

><p>Sasuke's mental limit snapped, and he went through seven hand seals, <strong>"Ninja Art: Fire Darts!"<strong>

Out of his mouth darts made of fire flew out, but Sasuke wasn't done yet, **"Ninja Art: Flame Fan!" **Slamming his hands together, and then separating them, he made a fan from flames and fanned the darts. Growing bigger, the darts rushed towards Yasei, but before she could dodge it, Hiretsuna yelled out, **"Trap your Target in a rocky prison, Kinzokuken!"**

Grabbing the naginata, he uttered out another chant, **"Even the strongest of gales start from a small breeze, Jinkyu Arts:** **Kyokutan-Fū!"**

His naginata head disappeared into a cloud of smoke and then when it cleared, its head was replaced with a giant fan with bright red feathers. With a grunt, he swung it at the darts, and instead of swelling in size, it averted directions right at Naruto.

"Look at your aim! You just hurt a worthless person with your aim." Snorted Sasuke.

* * *

><p>Naruto narrowed his eyes, <strong>"Curse your enemies to the Eternal Darkness, Inuhoozuki!"<strong>

Akamaru howled in fear as Naruto's Yajisume was consumed by the darkness.

"How are you doing this?" Demanded Sasuke, hunger in his eyes, as if enticed by the alluring darkness.

I'm not telling you!" Naruto replied, going into a stance, Naruto only said, one thing, **"Ito Style: Fu~Yūrī No Tsume!"** Slashing at the fire darts, they were consumed by the darkness, putting both arms behind him, he said another phrase, **"Ito Style: Ikari No Tsume!"**

Whipping both arms in front of him, the claws pulsed red, and then released a stream of fire darts.

Sasuke flew towards the right, "Whats wrong with you? You refuse to date an Uchiha? Well fine then, I tried to help bring you and your family happiness, but you refused, well then, I hope you will not be jealous when the Hyuuga girl becomes mine." He directed at Yasei, but the last part was also directed to Naruto.

This struck a chord in Naruto, about to retaliate, he heard an angry voice from behind.

"**Shine your light on the damned, Tenshirei!"**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I hope you guys like that first scene up there, I'm not good at describing things, so I felt like it was missing something. Feel free to criticize me on that.<strong>

**Until Next time, Peace.  
><strong>


	7. The Angel

**Welcome back to the next installment of Zodiac. I welcome all.**

**And yes, i did model the weapons after Bleach, you got to admit, its a nice concept.  
><strong>

**Previously on Zodiac:**

Sasuke flew towards the right, "Whats wrong with you? You refuse to date an Uchiha? Well fine then, I tried to help bring you and your family happiness, but you refused, well then, I hope you will not be jealous when the Hyuuga girl becomes mine." He directed at Yasei, but the last part was also directed to Naruto.

This struck a chord in Naruto, about to retaliate, he heard an angry voice from behind.

"**Shine your light on the damned, Tenshirei!"**

**Now back to Zodiac:**

* * *

><p>Naruto blanched, <em>"Someone else can do it? But who?"<em>

Turning his head around, he saw an angel. Not just any angel, but the most beautiful one he ever saw. The figure was floating gently off the floor, with great white wings softly beating. Then he saw the face clearly, "Hinata?" He asked.

The angel gave a small squeak, and the face turned red.

"_Oh my god, it is Hinata-Chan. She looks so beautiful!" _He thought to himself.

Sasuke stared at the holy sight, "Now this is fine enough to be part of the Uchihas. Well Hinata-san, will you be my date tonight?"

Ino silently screeched to herself, and then restrained from actually doing it. _"This isn't the Sasuke-Kun I thought he would be. I imagined him to be kind, caring, and calm, but this Sasuke is a jerk, arrogant, and always angry!"_

What Sasuke said had struck a chord in him, roaring in anger, his weapon turned blacker. Hinata also seemed to be angered by what Sasuke had said.

Inuhoozuki took over Naruto's body, eyes glowing black, he threw his right arm to the right. Hinata's left arm jerked towards Naruto's, and suddenly both started to recite words they didn't know. **"Yin and Yang together symbolizes Unity, and with Unity we shall bring you to your knees! Issho Arts:** **In'Yō-Dama!"**

In between of Naruto and Hinata's arm, a sphere made of pure darkness formed from Naruto, and a sphere of blinding light appeared from Hinata. The two drifted together, and with a flash, the tweo spheres became one. "It's a sphere that has the Yin Yang symbol," Someone muttered, and he was right, the sphere had looked exactly like the symbol.

Glaring at the Uchiha, Hinata and Naruto threw the sphere with a grunt. It came hurtling towards Sasuke at frightening speed, and left Sasuke scared witless. Just as the sphere was about to strike, Sasuke tripped backwards, narrowly dodging the projectile.

"I demand you commoners to tell me how you do that!" He roared.

Shaking their head, Naruto and Hinata were about to chant another sphere up when they saw Iruka come back. Both spirits decided to leave before trouble could occur, Naruto and Hinata's eyes regained their natural color, and canceled their Gentai state.

* * *

><p>"What happened here?" Iruka asked, slightly panicked at the sight of a destroyed training ground.<p>

Hiretsuna racked his mind for any possible explanation, and then his mind sparked, "We were just practicing, and we didn't know when you would return Iruka-sensei."

Giving a sigh of relief, Iruka decided to continue onto the exercise without Sakura. "Will Kiba Inuzuka please come up?"

"Wahoo! Come on Akamaru, it's finally our turn!"

"Please leave Akamaru behind, this is your training, not his."

Kiba sighed, and asked Shino, "Shino, could you look after Akamaru for me?"

Nodding only slightly, Shino beckoned a finger towards Akamaru.

Grinning, Kiba thanked Shino and ran off to the rope.

"On your mark, Get set, Go!"

Kiba gave one huge leap, and missed the rope entirely. Groaning in pain as he had hit the floor rather painfully, he saw Iruka shake his head, "No time will be told, as you had failed getting across, and you didn't even get two steps in."

Downtrodden, Kiba slinked back to Shino, and coaxed Akamaru to him. He fell to the floor quietly as Iruka announced the next name. "Shikamaru Nara, please come up."

Groaning, Shikamaru sat up, and began to walk towards the rope, "How troublesome."

Iruka ignored the phrase, and with a blow from his whistle, Shikamaru set off. His attackers desperately threw kunai after kunai at him, but all seemed to narrowly miss him. Right before he got to the other platform, Kiba gave a shout of frustration and threw a kunai at Shikamaru's head.

Sensing the projectile, Shikamaru did a front flip, dodging the kunai as well as getting onto the end of the rope.

"Very good, you got a time of thirty nine seconds and only one kunai hit you! Will Hiretsuna Nezuchi please come up?"

Naruto and Yasei smiled at Hiretsuna, "Don't fail" Naruto teased.

Snorting, Hiretsuna replied, "Let's make a deal, if you get a better grade than me, I'll buy you all the Ramen you can eat the next time. If I win, then you have to buy me and Yasei a ticket to the _Golden Leaf_."

Naruto paled, "The _Golden Leaf_? That restaurant is fancy to the extreme! Even the Hyuuga's have trouble paying there!"

"Exactly."

"You know you're evil, but I accept!"

Hiretsuna walked up to the rope and looked at Iruka, waiting for the start.

"GO"

Hiretsuna sped off, and none of the attackers weren't expecting him to move that fast. He reached the end in records time and saw the class stare at him with open mouths. "Twenty four seconds and no hits at all."

"Sasuke Uchiha, please come up."

Strutting up towards the rope, the Uchiha held his head straight up high in the air. He looked at who the throwers were and grinned as he saw Naruto, Hiretsuna, Yasei, and Hinata. _"This should be easy then."_

* * *

><p>"At your call Iruka-Sensei."<p>

"GO!"

Sasuke threw himself forward, and felt five kunais hit him at once. Restraining his voice, he tried to run faster, and for his efforts, he felt another five hit him. Extremely frustrated, he focused his efforts on dodging, but he was still hit by another five kunais. Screaming out loud, he tore across the rope, and right before he could land onto the platform, the last five hit him square on the head. Nearly falling down from the sudden shocl, he collapsed onto the floor, and foamed at the mouth as he realized how many kunais hit him.

"Twenty kunais hit you, but you had a time of twenty nine seconds. Naruto Uzumaki, you're up."

* * *

><p>Naruto grinned at Hiretsuna, "Get ready to buy me all the ramen I can eat."<p>

Slapping his back, Hiretsuna called, "You're on."

Naruto took his place on the rope, and looked at the throwers. Ino Yamanaka and Sasuke Uchiha were the only two people he could recognize. Grinning in anticipation, Naruto stood still, waiting for the command to go.

Once heard, he flew off like a bullet, and he dodged the kunais gracefully. Midway the rope, he began to cartwheel sideways, mocking the throwers. Ino laughed inside her head and threw a kunai, hoping to hit him. Sasuke eyes saw red, and he flicked two kunais towards Naruto, one headed for his head, the other flew for the one spot where all men treasured. Naruto dodged it casually, and sprinted off towards the end. Slamming both feet onto it, he cried out to Hiretsuna, "I won! Believe it!"

Then Sasuke snapped, he grabbed the bucket, and he started to throw kunai after kunai at Naruto, _"It's bad enough that Hiretsuna beat me, an Uchiha, but a nobody? He doesn't deserve that power!"_

Naruto saw the kunais incoming, and began to react accordingly. He grabbed each kunai and flung them back at Sasuke, soon enough, both kids were juggling the kunais back and forth, occasionally adding another kunai. Iruka wanted to throw his clipboard at the Uchiha, his temper was reaching the boiling point, but he wanted Naruto to teach the arrogant kid a much needed lesson.

Sasuke grabbed five kunais and threw them, destroying the tempo Naruto was maintaining. Naruto's face flickered with annoyance for a second, and then he increased the tempo. The two continued on, the speed increasing slowly, and the class watched with slight amazement.

* * *

><p>Suddenly, the kunais began to fly faster and faster, and both kids were struggling to keep up. Sweat began to form, and then Sasuke couldn't handle it. Jumping back for a little time, he went through five seals, <strong>"Ninja Art: Gentle Breeze!"<strong> He exhaled, and a breeze came forward from his lips, the kunais going towards him were repelled, and flew back towards Naruto. **"Curse your enemies to Eternal Darkness!" **Naruto cried out quickly, and everyone saw that his Yajisume was suddenly engulfed with darkness once more.

"**Ito Style: Takamari Hon'nō!"** His eyes started to glow, and he began to hiss. Arms swiping out, he grabbed every kunai and then he summoned a clone, going through another set of seals, the clone cried out, **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension!"**

Naruto began to toss kunais at the floor, with the class watching, wondering why he was throwing them at the wrong place. Sasuke stared at his opponent, "What's wrong dobe? Losing your sense of sight?"

Then Naruto looked up, all kunais were gone, and none were littered on the floor, "Nope, I hope you're not afraid of whats behind yourself."

Turning behind him, Sasuke eyes popped open as he saw a whole wall of kunais flying at him, he could do nothing as he stared at them rushing at him. Suddenly, the world became clear to him, he could see the kunais coming at him at an extremely slow rate. Staring quickly into the kunai's metal, he saw his eyes blazing with the Sharingan. _"Finally!" _He thought to himself.

Flinging himself sideways, he dodged the wall, and started to laugh. Fearing for Sasuke's sanity, Iruka was about to step in when Sasuke said, "At last, I have unlocked the Sharingan! Now, give me your powers Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto blanched at the thought of him giving Sasuke what he had learned from hard work, "Forget it! I took me forever to learn and there is NO way I'm just going to hand it over!"

"**The Physical eye is blind, but the mental eye is not! Sakkaku Arts: Yami No Jōshō!" **

Spreading his palm over the area he wanted the technique to happen, he smiled in satisfaction as Sasuke was shrouded by the shadows.

"_Whats with this jutsu? Not only can I not see through it, I can't even copy it!"_

Naruto rushed toward Sasuke, _"I was right! He is useless against the Gentai powers!"_

"**Behind the light shadows will rise, and behind the shadows nothing will remain, so run away if you be wise! Sakkaku Arts: Yami No Senpu!" **

The whirlwind flew towards Sasuke, and then he disappeared into it. Hearing screams of pain, Naruto smiled in satisfaction.

The smile turned into shock as Sasuke jumped out from the whirlwind, **"Ninja Art: Pheonix Flower!"**

Spitting out bullets of fire, Naruto dodged all of them, except for one which struck him on the shoulder. Grunting in pain, Naruto patted out the fire, and went for a third chant. Midway through the chant, he was interrupted by Sasuke jumping towards him. Lunging to his right, Naruto was about to dodge the blow when Sasuke screamed, "You're too slow!" and kicked him in the ribcage. Being sent flying, Naruto crashed into a tree. Screaming in pain, Naruto picked himself up from the ground.

"_**Shall I take over?"**_ Whispered a concerned Inuhoozuki.

Naruto mentally shook his head, rage as taking over him, Inside his mind however, the Kyuubi yawned and opened one eye towards the cat, _**"Oye, he's taking some of my powers, you should try to stop that, it's going to kill the Uchiha. As much as I would love to see the filthy Uchiha clan destroyed, the container's health comes first.**_"

Nodding its head, the astral cat muttered some words, and chains began to appear. Chaining up the red chakra that was slowly seeping out, Inuhoozuki managed to restrain anymore from getting out.

Naruto stared at Sasuke, many different plans going through his brain, _"I can't use ninjutsu or my taijutsu, or else he will steal them, neither can I use my chants, because he attacks too fast, what can I do?"_

Hearing this, the Kyuubi gave a smile, swirling the red chakra around, the beast directed the chakra towards Naruto's eyes.

"_**Hey kit, I heard you thinking, and I decided to give you a small advantage. By adding some chakra to your eyes, you can temporarily disable the Sharingan. Think of it as my apology for being sealed into you."**_

Grinning, Naruto did as he was told. Molding the chakra into his eyes, Naruto opened them slowly. Sasuke stared at his eyes, and then felt the world start to revert back to the original state.

"Wh-whats happening? Why can't I use the Sharingan?" He demanded.

Instead of answering, Naruto spoke out, **"One will love, the other will hate, when the hate turns to love, power shall be born, Jōkyū Reberu Wa, Akutibu Ni!"**

His Yajisume exploded with power, and Sasuke cried out in terror. Naruto smiled brightly, and cracked his knuckles, "Let's start the warm up."

Disappearing from view, Naruto flickered to behind Sasuke. The class gasped at the speed of Naruto, and Sasuke turned around quickly, but not quick enough. Naruto crouched down, his left claws extended out front, and his right claws right behind him, slightly above his head.

"**Ito Style: Slashing Fury!"**

Naruto slashed at Sasuke with his right hand, and smiled with satisfaction as Sasuke screamed when they tore away his flesh, but only a little bit, as he had adjusted Yajisume to not cause as much damage it would normally do.

Continuing his relentless assault, Naruto slashed away at Sasuke, and with a final touch, Naruto jumped towards Sasuke, and cried out one more attack, **"Cross Slash!"**

Slashing diagonally with both claws, Naruto inflicted an X shaped scar onto Sasuke's back. Screaming in agony, Sasuke fainted from the pain.

The class went silent, the Uchiha was beaten, and not from any regular student, but from the Dead Last.

"PARTY!" A random kid cried out, prancing around the ring, instantly, two sides were formed:

The Anti Sasuke side, where the majority of the class was on.

The Sasuke Fan Side, where the majority of the females was on.

The Sasuke Fan club instantaneously started to berate the kid who was dancing around, and the rest were screaming themselves hoarse at Naruto for beating up Sasuke.

"How could you do such a thing to Sasuke-kun!" One girl screamed.

"Easy! That's how!" Howled Kiba, He and his dog were laughing madly at how Sasuke was on the floor, unconscious to the world.

"That's not what she meant!" Cried out another girl, nodding her head in agreement, the first girl screamed, "I meant how dare he do that to my Sasuke-kun!"

Doing a double take, the second girl who was previously siding with the first started to screech at her friend, "_Your_ Sasuke-kun? What the hell are you talking about? He's obviously in love with me!"

And with those last few words, chaos erupted.

Iruka awoke from his shock quickly, _"Naruto Beat Sasuke, but in the process, Sasuke unlocked the Sharingan. Who knows how Sasuke is going to act now, but I honestly believe it is going to be for the worst."_

* * *

><p>"SETTLE DOWN!"<p>

The class fell to the floor silently and at once. "Yes teacher!" They saluted. A very angry Iruka was an Iruka you never wanted to disobey.

"I think we had enough excitement for today. Be sure to rest up for tomorrow. We will be having our Information gathering. Class Dismissed!"

With a chorus of thanks, the kids ran off, some were off to tell their parents on what had happened, the others went off to train, as the events had motivated them to take the shinobi life seriously.

* * *

><p><strong>At the training grounds<strong>

"Oh man that felt so good kicking Sasuke-teme's ass!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping around everywhere.

Hiretsuna laughed, "I was dying of laughter when you did."

Turning to face his friend, Naruto took on a serious face, "Hiretsuna, you still owe me ramen."

Hiretsuna froze, and his face paled, "Shit, I was hoping you forgot about that."

Naruto gasped, "I could never forget about Ramen, the very thought of that is sacrilege!" He put his palm over his chest, "I owe my life to Ramen!"

Giggling, Yasei patted Hiretsuna on his back, "It's alright Hiretsuna-kun, I don't eat that much."

Hiretsuna collapsed to lower ground, "Like that's going to make me feel better."

Looking up at the sky, Naruto exclaimed, "It's time for dinner! Let's go my meal ticket!" He ran off towards the ramen stand, leaving a path of smoke behind.

A crestfallen boy and a laughing girl was seen following the smoke.

* * *

><p><strong>At the Ramen Stand<strong>

"More please!" Naruto cried, holding out his empty bowl. Ichiraku laughed and handed over a fresh bowl, "You seem hungrier today Naruto!"

Yasei stared at the tower of empty bowls next to Naruto, "hm, fifteen bowls and counting."

She was slowly eating her own bowl of ramen, watching as Naruto wolfed down the sixteenth bowl. "Are you planning to stop any time soon?" She asked.

Holding up a sign, Naruto kept on eating, **"Nope"**

Another four bowls later, Hiretsuna cracked, "Oh Kami! Let this horror end!" He fell to the floor, tears flowing from his eyes. His own bowl was untouched, as he had forgotten it in his horror.

Naruto kept on eating, ignoring Hiretsuna's plea for him to stop, Naruto signaled for another bowl.

Hiretsuna stared at his wallet sadly, _"I'm going to need to do more missions to get my money up later."_

On the twenty sixth bowls, Naruto stopped, "I guess this would be enough for today."

Nodding his head, Ichiraku summed up the bill.

"Let's see, Naruto ate five pork ramen, seven shrimp, ten miso, and four chicken ramen. You and Yasei ate two miso ramen. the bill comes up to Nine hundred ryo. **A/N: I am not sure of standard prices in japan, so I am going to assume this is standard.**

Hiretsuna emptied his wallet; his tears now came cascading down. "Here you are sir, nine hundred ryo."

Pitying the boy, Ichiraku said to Ayame, "Oh right, wasn't today the fifty percent off sale?"

Bewildered, Ayame stammered, "I do-don't recall that father."

Staring at Ayame, she got the drift, "Oh right, it is the fifty percent sale today."

Hiretsuna brightened up considerately, "Oh thank Kami!" Forking over four hundred and fifty ryo, the three walked away from the stand, four hundred and fifty ryo was still a lot of money to lose, but it beat the original price.

Staring seriously at Naruto, Hiretsuna uttered out, "Never again, will I treat you to Ramen ever again!"

"But why?" Naruto whined.

The blonde only received a slap on the head, "You eat too much that's why!"

Holding his smarting head, Naruto shook his head, "I don't eat too much, you just eat too little!"

Sensing the two about to fight, Yasei went in between them, "Hey guys let's just focus on tomorrow's assignment!"

Breaking apart, the two boys looked thoughtful. "The upper classmen told me each year Iruka-sensei changes it. So there's no way of telling."

"But isn't there a pattern?" Naruto asked.

Yasei and Hiretsuna looked at Naruto in surprise, "He has a point." Yasei remarked.

"For once," Hiretsuna snorted.

Scowling, the blonde slapped his friend on the back. "_You're_ the smart one, _you_ figure out the pattern."

Smugly, Hiretsuna reached into his pack and grabbed a pencil and paper. "I already got a pretty clear idea on what Iruka-Sensei is going to plan tomorrow."

Drawing diagrams on the paper, Hiretsuna explained:

"Iruka-Sensei always has three different types of information exercises. Interrogation, Information gathering, and Infiltration. Last year was Information Gathering, so that means this year it's going to be Infiltration."

"Meaning?" Yasei inquired.

"Meaning that this year we need to learn how to be silent and learn assassination jutsu."

Naruto groaned, "I suck being silent."

Staring at Naruto, Hiretsuna said "I'm not surprised."

"Hey I heard that!"

Smacking both guys on the head, Yasei said, "Instead of fighting, let's try and figure out how to do this."

Hiretsuna nodded his head, "So, let's try to move around completely quiet while blending in with the background."

"Why?"

"Blending in the background makes us seemingly invisible to others, so they won't know we're here."

"I meant how are we going to get information that way?"

"Would you ever discuss secret stuff in front of spies?"

Shaking his head, the blonde said "Hell no! I'd talk about it in private with people I can trust."

Naruto's brown haired friend nodded, "Exactly, if we can become invisible, we will most likely come across the information we need."

Naruto's eyes light up in understanding. Jumping up, he cried out, "Let's do it!"

Standing up, Yasei only shook her head, "I think it's best if we learn from our spirits."

The two boys opened their mouth to say something, but then nodded, "Fine, but after we finish, let's do some sparring." Naruto whined.

"Agreed."

"Then I'll see you guys later then."

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Naruto's mind.<strong>

"_**There are many ways to become silent and invisible."**_ Inuhoozuki instantly started.

Perking up, the blonde stared at the cat to continue.

"_**Genjutsu are one of the most favorite ways to be silent, but speed is also another factor, I will train you in both."**_

Instantly, Naruto felt weights on him, and he crashed to the floor. "Holy crap! What the hell happened?"

Inuhoozuki looked down in amusement, _**"I added ten pound weights to all four limbs. Weights are beneficial to increasing your speed and power."**_

"How?"

"_**Weights make you heavier than you actually are, and when your body adapts to it, it will feel like you are not wearing weights at all. Then when you take them off, you feel lighter, therefore you become faster."**_

"Oh." Naruto said.

"_**As for genjutsus, I am far too lazy to teach you, so I am just going to insert memories into your brain. Be prepared, this will not be a pleasant feeling."**_

"Not again!" Naruto cried, and then dropped to the floor as the memories flowed into him. Holding his head in pain, Naruto could only wait for the memories to stop. "I hate you."

"_**You'll thank me sooner or later." **_Chuckled the huge cat.

From behind the cat, a cage rattled with laughter, _**"If you think his training methods are painful, I cannot wait for until I become the trainer and you the trainee." **_Roared the Kyuubi.

"_**In fact, I feel like I should start the training now."**_

Naruto's arms dropped down to the floor, and Naruto's chest collapsed as well. "Shit! Did you increase the weight?"

"_**Only by another ten pounds." **_Kyuubi snickered innocently.

Naruto roared in anger, "I'm going to kick yo-!" Kyuubi sighed and muttered a few incomprehensible words, bindings flew out onto Naruto's mouth, muting him.

"_**Silence is golden, don't you forget that."**_

After several excruciating minutes, the memories stopped, leaving behind a still gagged Naruto.

"_**I suppose I should remove the gag."**_ Kyuubi snickered, waving his tail, the gag disappeared, and Naruto began to spout swears at the fox.

"_**Oh my, such a fowl mouth, I guess I'll leave the gag on."**_

Naruto's eyes glared daggers at the Kyuubi, he struggled to get back onto his feet, but the weights on him prevented him from doing any actual moving.

Staring from aside, Inuhoozuki looked at the seemingly happy fox, _**"Just how much are you enjoying this?"**_ He asked.

The fox rumbled in deep laughter,_** "Enough to make it worth my while."**_

The two beings began to converse with each other, betting to see when Naruto would get up, while saying it just loud enough for Naruto to hear. _**"In the next hour."**_ Inuhoozuki said.

"_**You are giving the brat too much credit, I say after five hours."**_ Snorted Kyuubi.

Ears perking up, Naruto steamed up as he realized what the two had said. With a giant roar, he slammed his foot onto the floor and rose up.

"_**My time was closer,"**_ the cat quickly said, staring at Naruto in surprise.

Kyuubi grumbled, _**"It's either on time, or not at all. The bet's off."**_

Throwing the gag at the fox, Naruto screamed, "You stupid fur ball! What if I didn't get up for the rest of the day?"

"_**Sucks to be you then."**_ Came the reply.

"Why you!" Naruto rushed towards the Kyuubi, all logic gone, and reckless anger replaced it.

With a flick of their tails, Inuhoozuki and Kyuubi swat Naruto away. Smashing into the wall, Naruto rose back up, swearing off the pain. Screaming even more swears, cat and fox both used their tails as an ear plug, muffling out Naruto.

"_**Begone you stupid mortal."**_ Kyuubi sighed, and Naruto was ejaculated from his mindscape.

Slamming a hand onto the floor, Naruto screamed quietly at all the things he was going to do to the two.

"Oh yea, they're going to regret this." He muttered while getting up from the cold floor of the dojo. Slinking off to his room, Naruto reviewed over the memories that were forcibly crammed into him. Different types of jutsus to camouflage, methods to quiet footprints, jutsus to enhance certain senses, they saw it all.

Jumping onto his bed, Naruto went through the memories over and over until sleep overtook him.

Muttering words quietly, Naruto fell asleep, oblivious to the two beings inside him plotting.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading. Author Out.<br>**


	8. The Show

**Welcome back to the Zodiac!**

**I apologize for the wait, i just got lazy and didnt bother writing.  
><strong>

**Previously on the Zodiac:**

_**Jumping onto his bed, Naruto went through the memories over and over until sleep overtook him.**_

_**Muttering words quietly, Naruto fell asleep, oblivious to the two beings inside him plotting.**_

And now back to Zodiac.

* * *

><p><strong>The next morning:<strong>

Naruto awoke to the sound of rocks being thrown.

"Not again." He groaned, getting up slowly, he walked towards the window and threw it open.

Opening a mouth to say something, he felt a rock go into his mouth. "Gah pft!" Spitting out the rock, Naruto glared at his friend, "Was that really necessary?"

Hiretsuna shrugged his shoulders, "Well, when I threw it, you just happened to open the window at that second, so it wasn't my entire fault."

Yasei threw a second rock at Naruto, "We don't have all day Naruto! Hurry up and get dressed, or _else_!"

Gulping, Naruto flew down the stairs, "Yes ma'am!" Eating a ration bar, Naruto flew out the door, where his two friends were waiting.

"Took you long enough, let's get going." Yasei remarked.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "I was tired hehe."

* * *

><p><strong>At school<strong>

"Listen up class, as you know, today is the information exercise. Usually, I would have one of three exercises given to you, but this year, it's going to be different!" Iruka stated, slamming his hands on the desk.

The three friends paled, they hadn't expected that.

"Hiretsuna! I thought you were right about the lesson today!" Hissed Naruto.

Hiretsuna whispered back, "I thought I was right too!"

Continuing, the teacher said, "Today's exercise will be a mixture of all three categories; Infiltration, Interrogation, and information gathering."

A random student raised his hand, "Iruka-sensei, how will that work?"

"The whole academy will be the testing ground. You will go around and find information from the teachers. Then after getting the needed information, you will use that information to infiltrate a certain place in the academy. In that place, you will find a random teacher, and you will need to get information out of him. You may not harm him; any harm done to a teacher will lead to instant disqualification."

Sakura raised her hand, "How will we be graded?" She asked.

"Good question, you will be graded on how fast you can do the whole exercise, how stealthily you can get to the room, and how easily you can interrogate the teacher. There will be obstacles stopping you, I won't tell you what, but I'll just say that it's going to be fun watching you get passed them." He smirked.

"Now, if there are no more questions, please get into teams of four and wait for me to call on you."

The class was silent as Iruka left the room, and right when they could no longer hear footprints, the class erupted into chaos.

"Oh Sasuke-kun! I know you want me to be on your team!" Ino yelled.

Hearing that, the other Sasuke fangirls screamed out in objection, "Hell no Ino-pig!" Screamed one Sakura Haruno.

Twitching an eye brow, Sasuke walked up to Hinata and Yasei, "As an Uchiha, I would advise you to be on my team."

Turning green in the face, Yasei only shook her head quickly, "No thanks, I already got my three others. Isn't that right guys?"

Nodding their heads in agreement, Naruto, Hiretsuna and Hinata looked at Sasuke. "S-so sor-sorry Sasuke-san." Hinata stuttered out, bowing down to the fuming boy.

"You are going to regret this, girls would kill just to be on my team." He stated, pointing at the still fighting girls across the room.

"Well, they're not that type of girls who'd throw themselves over you Sasuke-teme." Said Naruto.

Grumbling, Sasuke turned back and headed towards Ino, Shikamaru, and Shino. "You three, you are now on my team."

Ino squealed in delight, "You hear that billboard brow? Sasuke-kun wants ME on his team, not YOU!"

Sakura stared at her beloved idol in tears, "But why Sasuke-kun? Don't you want me?"

Frowning, Sasuke said, "Ino's clan has mind projecting techniques that will easily interrogate, Shino has bugs that will detect any abnormality, and Shikamaru's knowledge will give my team a boost in mentality."

Jumping up and down, Ino screamed at Sakura, "In your face! In your face!"

Tears rolling down her face, Sakura fell to the floor, defeat had left her speechless.

The class shrugged, Sakura needed a reality check on where she stood, and how better to give one to her by her idol. Face indifferent, Sasuke and his team turned away from the quiet girl. "How troublesome" groaned Shikamaru, but even though he had said it, Shino and him had both felt sorry for the girl.

A random boy in the class reached out to comfort her, but as he put his hand on her shoulder, she snapped. "Get your damn hands off me!" She roared, slapping the hand away. Springing up, she glared at the class.

"You three, you're with me now!" She snapped, pointing at the two girls and a boy. The three targets gave a small gulp, and meekly replied, "Yes ma'am."

Marching away, Sakura and her team went to a separate part of the class, and sat down. The rest of the class was quiet, and then a thought struck them. "Hey wait, the longer we wait, the less chances of getting a good team we're going to have!" Cried out a random girl.

And then the rush for selections began. Kids rushed to form groups, and the unlucky ones stared dismally at their ragtag group made of the class's lower rank. Once the last kid had been grouped, Iruka walked in, "I see you all have been grouped up. Well then, who wants to go first?"

Raising his hand, Sasuke stared at the teacher impatiently. Looking at his team, Iruka nodded his head, "Aright then, please step forward with your team then."

Sasuke and Co stepped forward, looking nervously except for Sasuke, he looked on at the teacher expectantly.

* * *

><p>"GO"<p>

Sasuke leaped forward with a roar, and was instantly awarded with Iruka saying, "Minus one point for being loud!"

Hearing that, Sasuke punched Shikamaru angrily, "I told you to be quiet!"

"Tch, how troublesome I was for agreeing to be a part of this," Shikamaru groaned.

"Thank god the other students can't see this, I'd rather die than to see Sakura see us start off this badly." Ino said, sighing in relief.

Creeping along silently, they looked around cautiously, not knowing what they were to expect.

Shino took one small step forward, and once his foot met the floor, he heard a clink.

The walls on both sides of them opened up, and darts flew out, striking Ino several times on the arms, she shrieked at the trap.

"Oh god, what the hell is happening over there?" A student asked, unable to see what was happening, but able to hear them loud and clear.

"Whatever it was, I hope it kills Ino." Sakura glared at the door ominously, as if she could see through it.

Sasuke gave a dissatisfied grunt as he saw how much damage was done to his group.

"Minus thirteen points!" Iruka called out.

Grabbing Shino and Shikamaru, Sasuke rushed forward, leaving a surprised Ino behind.

"Wait up guys!"

As time went by, so did the other student's anxiety. They chattered between themselves quietly, hoping to figure out what would happen when they would get tested.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Iruka walked in with the four students in tow.

"Sasuke and his team have gotten a score of eighty four out of a hundred," Iruka remarked, looking at his clipboard.

The class murmured in awe, eighty four seemed like a very good score, especially since this was the last test before the finals.

"Feh, eighty four? Big deal! If it were me on Sasuke-kun's team instead of Ino-pig, we would have gotten atleast a ninety." Spat out Sakura poisonously.

Iruka narrowed his eyes at the pink haired girl, _"What happened to the sweet calm Sakura I knew? She turned from the kind gentle girl to an angry and violent one!"_

"Actually Sakura, Ino happened to earn us a few extra points after successfully interrogating the teacher in one try," Explained Shikamaru.

"Excuses excuses, that's all I hear," muttered Sakura, turning away.

"Er, which group wants to go next?" asked Iruka, desperate to avoid a conflict.

Sakura stood up and glared for her team to follow, "My group will."

Marching towards the starting line, her group looked at each other nervously and then at Iruka. He only shrugged helplessly, "Go at any time you feel ready."

With one short nod, Sakura dashed forward, and her team cried out in surprise, and they followed behind her, hoping not to lose her.

Iruka stared at the slowly shrinking body of Sakura and wondered, _"I really need to evaluate her mental status."_

A few long minutes later, Sakura and her team came back, with a smug look on her face, Sakura went and sat in her usual seat.

Walking in with surprise on his face, Iruka looked at his clipboard quietly, and then looked at the class.

"Sakura and her team has gotten a score of Eighty eight out of a possible score of a hundred."

Ino screeched in anger while Sasuke looked on in amazement. _"Maybe it was a bad choice choosing the blonde over her."_

Sakura waltzed over to Sasuke, "Well Sasuke-kun? How do you like me now Better than Ino-pig, am I right?"

The Uchiha only nodded, earning him a satisfied smile from her. She sat down next to him, disregarding the glare Ino gave her.

Iruka opened his mouth to ask who wanted next, but then Naruto raised his hand, "Yo sensei! My team wants to give this a try!"

* * *

><p>"Of course, follow me out to the line."<p>

Grinning at his team, and then sticking his tongue out at Sasuke, Naruto walked towards the door. Halfway there however, Sakura stuck her foot out, In hopes of tripping the blonde loudmouth. Unfortunately for both of them, When Naruto tripped, his outstretched hand slapped the pink haired girl by accident, with a surprised shout, the blonde fell to the floor.

"Mmph!" a surprised muffled voice was heard.

"Itai!" Naruto moaned grabbing his head, turning around to yell at the girl, his mouth fell open in shock, and so did everyone else's mouth.

There, right in front of them, Sakura was kissing Sasuke.

Many screams were heard, and many death threats were made, and both continued on until Iruka burst into the room, "What the hell is going on in here? Sakura and Sasuke! Break apart now!"

The Uchiha repelled away from her as if he was stung. With a disturbed grunt, he began to wipe his mouth with his shirt.

Almost instantaneously, Sakura was thrust into a crowd of extremely angry, angry girls.

"You broke the first rule of the Sasuke fan club! Never get into physical contact without him approving first!" Screamed a short girl.

Shoving the girl out of her way, Sakura pushed her way out of the circle, "It just means that im the rightful one for Sasuke-kun, doesn't it?"

"How can you be so sure you bitch?" Punching the girl to her right in frustration, the girl stalked Sakura with intentions to harm her.

"It doesn't look like he disliked it did he?" Gesturing towards the boy in question, they all saw Sasuke with a slight smile.

Quickly, the Uchiha wiped the smile off his face and replaced it with his usual scowl.

"Oh Sasuke-kun! Please don't tell me its true!"

"Hn." He turned away, a slight blush on his face.

"Oh dear Kami no!" The whole Sasuke Fan club erupted into sorrow. Grinning, Sakura turned to Naruto, and her eyes narrowed, "What the hell are you looking at? Go take the goddam exercise!"

Stumbling out of the room, Naruto turned towards his three group mates, "That was the weirdest thing I ever saw!"

Hiretsuna slapped Naruto's head playfully, "Only because you caused it."

Walking out from the classroom, Iruka gave a sigh, putting his head on his hand. "How did things become like this?"

Before the four could respond, the teacher held his palm out, "Don't say anything, I know, when I say go, you start."

* * *

><p>"GO!"<p>

The four rushed towards, and when Hiretsuna stepped on a wooden panel, mayhem struck.

"Duck!" Yasei screamed as darts flew from the sides.

"Minus one point for being loud."

"Nani?" Naruto nearly yelled, looking at Iruka bewildered.

Then Hiretsuna dove towards Naruto, slamming him onto the floor.

"What was that for?" he grumbled.

Hiretsuna silently pointed at the wall where Naruto stood a few seconds before. There on the wall, was a dart, if Naruto had not been moved; he would have lost points for being hit,

"Thanks bud!" Naruto grinned, standing up, he observed the hallway.

"Who would of thought our usual hallway would be turned into a trap infested playground?" Chirped Yasei.

"This is the hallway we usually take every day? It looks so different thought!" remarked Naruto, scratching his head in wonder.

Yasei nodded her head, "I can smell that ramen broth Naruto spilled yesterday."

"It was good ramen." *sniff*

Hiretsuna stared at the seemingly familiar hall. "Then that would mean there is an genjutsu on here?"

Naruto did a single seal, and muttered a few words. The hall flickered momentarily, and then assumed its original form, and there in all of its glory, was all the not so hidden traps.

"Good going Naruto!" Yasei cheered silently.

"A bonus of five points for figuring out the genjutsu." Stated a monotonous Iruka.

"That makes a total of one hundred and four points." Hiretsuna couldn't suppress a grin, "Lets keep on going shall we?"

Maneuvering through the rigged hallway, the group made it quickly through. Spotting a teacher who was sleeping on a table, they quickly tied him up with rope. "Speak you!" Naruto glared at the teacher.

"Peh, I wouldn't give anything to the likes of you!" Spitting on Naruto, the teacher became silent.

"Ugh that's just disgusting," Naruto whined, taking off his jacket, he tossed it over his shoulder.

The three team mates frowned, Yasei stepped up to the teacher, "You should not have done that." Motioning for Naruto to do something, she awaited for Naruto to start a genjutsu.

"**Genjutsu Art: False Pain"**

Touching the forhead of bound teacher, the captive started to scream in pain, "You forbidden to hurt the teachers you goddam demon!" The teacher managed to scream.

"And you aren't being hurt, its all in your mind, now give us the information we need." Naruto smiled at the teacher.

"Never!" the teacher gritted his teeth, and with a small grunt of pain, he bit on his lip, dispelling the jutsu.

"Oh god dam, he broke the jutsu!"

"**Genjutsu Art: False Hope"**

Yasei glared at the sweating teacher's eye, and the teacher began to scream out in agony once more.

"You can't break out of this genjutsu easily." Yasei smiled dangerously sweet.

The man shook his head in a defiant nature, "You will never break me!"

Hiretsuna sighed, turning towards to Hinata, he asked, "How about you give your Jyuken a try?"

The lavender haired girl turned tomato red from being addressed, but she didn't give any signs of refusal. Walking up to the teacher, she bowed down, "Fo-forgive me" she whispered. Activating her doujutsu, she whispered a bit more loudly.

"**Clan Arts: Byakugan!"**

Her eye veins bulging slightly, Naruto looked on in amazement as she expertly poked at points of the teacher's body.

The whimpers of pain intensified and grew into howls of extreme anguish, "I'll talk, I'll talk!"

After a short confession on where they needed to go next, and what information they specifically needed.

Releasing the sweat drenched teacher from the ropes, they walked out the door, and began in search of the final destination. Reaching a dead end, the blonde cried out in frustration, "That teacher lied to us!" Slamming his fight into the wall in anger, he felt the wall give way.

The wall flickered, and then disappeared from their sights, in place of the wall, was a swinging door that seemed to have cracks.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of a genjutsu." Hiretsuna noted humorously.

Walking into the room, they met with Iruka, who stared at them indifferently.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations on meeting me here at the final destination. Now to review you on your score. First, your bad points; in the beginning of the test, you were a bit too loud, making you lose a point. Then when interrogating the teacher, you weren't silent enough, if this was a real information mission, people would of heard the interrogation and come running, that was another five point loss. Finally, at the last genjutsu, you let your anger get ahead of you, and that resulted in a burst of anger. Never let your emotions get in the way of the mission, that's a seven point loss."<p>

Hiretsuna did a quick calculation inside his head, "That would mean we have a total of eighty seven points so far."

"Correct, now for the good points, you managed to crack the genjutsu applied to the hallway and therefore, you have ninety two points. Congratulations!"

"Yatta! We're first place!" Hugging the closest person to him, which was Hinata. She fainted straight away, a smile on her face, and then Naruto realized the result of his hug, "Oh crap Hinata-Chan, are you okay?" Naruto whipped his head to Iruka so fast, the onlookers thought they heard a whip cracking noise. "Sensei! Help her!"

"Relax Naruto, Hinata is in no trouble, just get her back to the classroom, and she'll be fine."

"Are you sure? If anything bad happens to her, I'm blaming you sensei!"

"Just get on back to class, I still got groups to test."

**Back to the classroom.**

"Hiretsuna and his group has earned the score of ninety two."

Naruto threw his hands behind his head, "It was no trouble at all either, we totally kicked ass right guys?"

Yasei only sighed and looked towards the ground, ashamed that her friend had no sense of humility. If he continued on like this, things were going to be changed.

Dodging a kunai, Naruto looked at the direction in which it came from.

"Takeshi-san! What is the meaning of this?

The teacher that had been interrogated by Hinata glared daggers at Naruto. "That demon deserves whatever that's coming!" Throwing another kunai at the blonde, the teacher rushed towards him, and with a quick kick, Naruto was sent flying through the window.

Hitting the floor with a thud, Naruto held his head tenderly, "Oh god damn, that hurt more than a Yasei sized punch!"

Rolling to the left to dodge five shurikens that embedded themselves into the floor, Takeshi appeared in front of him. "Just die why don't you?"

Yasei and Hiretsuna appeared along side Naruto, and helped him up to his feet. "Hey, why don't we show the teach our new combination techniques?" Hiretsuna suggested.

Naruto instantaneously brightened up, "Sure! Its always fun looking at those moves!"

Hiretsuna nodded at Yasei, "Why don't you two go first, then Yasei and I, and then Naruto and I?"

With a small grunt of acknowledgement, Naruto and Yasei hopped towards the teacher.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Combination Arts: Hokubu Yori!"<strong>

The place around Takeshi darkened considerably, reducing his visibility to very low, and then snow began to fall. Quickly enough, the man was surrounded by many feet of snow, and then the snow came into full effect.

"Look at the size of those icicles!" Kiba moaned, pointing at the air above the teacher.

True enough, floating above Takeshi, were a feet long icicle, ready to spear the nearly blind where he stood. Yasei heard Kiba's statement, and she giggled, "It's okay, the icicles aren't that sharp enough, I'm not that strong in Ninjutsu."

With a blast of chakra, the icicles flew towards the middle, and with a squelch, the icicles embedded themselves into the poor man. Fortunately for Takeshi, they did not penetrate deep enough to cause any more pain.

"Oh Shit! The blood, the blood!" A girl screamed, and then swooned over, hands on her head as she saw the blood splurt out.

"That hurts like hell you bitch!" He roared, grabbing the projectiles, he tore them out with a grunt, and tossed them back at Yasei.

A wall of dirt rose to meet with the ice, and Hiretsuna was glad to hear the icicles fall to the ground after impact.

Naruto slammed a fireball into the wall, and with Hiretsuna's earth manipulation, the wall enveloped the fire, making a ball. Kicking it towards the teacher, Naruto and Hiretsuna put up their hands in one hand sign,

"**Combination Arts: Kazan Ban!"**

The ball exploded, shooting out fire and dirt shrapnel everywhere. Most of it the enemy dodged, but some fire made its way to him, burning his clothes. Cursing in annoyance, the man put himself out with a small water jutsu.

"**Ninja Arts: Flame Stream!"**

Sucking in a large amount of air, he expelled out a continuous stream of fire, heading straight towards the three.

Grinning, Naruto whipped through another five seals, and whispered out a name.

The fire diverted from its original path, and began to head towards Naruto, it began to swirl around him, like a snake on fire, and Naruto looked at the teacher happily.

Then Yasei and Hiretsuna began their attack.

"**Combination Arts:** **Shitsu Rakuen!"**

Spitting out a large amount of water, Yasei directed the flow towards Takeshi. Dodging the water with ease, the man laughed. "Is that the so called combination art? What a joke!"

Then he noticed the land he was standing on began to give way.

The earth tore apart with a groan, and he fell into the hole, quickly erecting a barrier from the leftover dirt, Hiretsuna nodded at Yasei.

The wave of water Takeshi had previously dodged came back, and this time, it had various other objects flowing in it. With a crash, the water smashed down onto the poor ninja.

Then the three noticed he wasn't in the hole in the first place.

Takeshi appeared from behind a tree, "Genins are no match for a Chunin! If that's all you got then you are not going to be able to last long in the real world!"

Then the three began to go through a twenty seal long jutsu.

"**Combination Arts: Torai Dangan!"**

Shooting a stream of solid earth, Hiretsuna stood back for his two friends to do their part.

Yasei herself shot a stream of water, and it circled the earth bullet.

Then Naruto shot a stream of fire, and it circled the other way around Hiretsuna's technique.

Spinning faster and faster, the bullet flew towards Takeshi, leaping out of the way just in time, he smirked in victory. "Huh, I have to give you credit, I never would of seen that bullet coming."

Then he immediately duck to avoid getting hit in the head by said bullet.

"How the hell?"

Naruto smiled, "Torai Dangan is a homing attack."

"Impossible! For a true homing technique, you would need something special for the technique to focus on!"

Hiretsuna pointed at Takeshi's chest, looking down, the teacher saw a small badge that gave out small bursts of chakra.

"What the fuck is this thing!"

Naruto stuck out his chest proudly, "It's my special invention! When I mold chakra especially like that, it becomes a tracking beacon, and it can usually last for a good part of an hour!"

Tearing off the badge, he threw it on the floor, "Well thanks for telling me! Now it's not going to work since it's not on me!"

Then Takeshi flew towards the floor in extreme pain.

"I forgot to tell you, I put two trackers on you."

Iruka leaped in, grabbing the nearly unconscious man roughly, "How dare you attack these young children, have you no shame!"

Punching the man in the gut, Iruka was about to take him away to the Hokage when Takeshi began to laugh eerily, "Kids? I only see two kids and the ky-"

SMACK

Takeshi smashed back into the ground; compliments of Iruka, leaping away with the man quickly, the class could only stare in amazement at the three.

* * *

><p>"How troublesome." Shikamaru commented, grabbing a few chips from Chouji's bag, much to his friend's annoyance.<p>

Staring hungrily at the show of power he had just saw, he walked up to them, barely suppressing shivers of excitement.

Oh how soon he would be able to kill Itachi with that power! The thought of him being able to wield that power had left him breathless!

"What is it teme?" Naruto groaned, he could already predict what the Uchiha was going to say.

"Give me that power." His eyes showed the eyes of a madman, scaring the three slightly.

"No! For the god damn last time, we're not going to teach you any of our jutsus! We spent forever perfecting those, and we're not going to hand it over on a silver platter to an arrogant ass!" Naruto ranted, steam rising from his ears.

"I don't give a care for how long you commoners took and how its your pride, I demand you bow down to the almighty Uchiha!"

Yasei intervened between the two boys, " Naruto's right! The three of us spent ages just to make sure the jutsus wouldn't harm us, and now you come strutting in here demanding that we teach you it without you earning the right? Just because you're the so called "Last Uchiha!"

Hiretsuna hissed silently to Sasuke, "If the Uchiha was so mighty, how come they were all destroyed in one night by a single man!"

Eyes widening, Sasuke's hand curled into a fist, "Why you litt-"

Iruka reappeared in between the four, "Break it up you guys! Show some respect when the Hokage is here!"

"Oh you told them I was here, there goes my fun."

The whole class saluted the old man, "Hokage-Sama!"

Smiling fondly at the kids, the man waved kindly at them, "Carry on with class Iruka, I want to talk the three here."

Iruka nodded, grabbing Sasuke, he led the fuming boy back to the classroom, and one by one, the kids by the window left the view and began to resume their normal class. Although, none would forget the eventful day they had seen, and all would talk about it for ages.

The old man tipped his hat slightly and stared at the three kids.

"And now, please accompany this old man for his afternoon walk."

* * *

><p><strong>Fin<strong>

**After a long await, you got the next chapter! Hooray for me actually updating. Author out!  
><strong>


	9. The Judging

**Welcome back to more Zodiac!**

**Previously on The Zodiac:**

_The whole class saluted the old man, "Hokage-Sama!"_

_Smiling fondly at the kids, the man waved kindly at them, "Carry on with class Iruka, I want to talk the three here."_

_Iruka nodded, grabbing Sasuke, he led the fuming boy back to the classroom, and one by one, the kids by the window left the view and began to resume their normal class. Although, none would forget the eventful day they had seen, and all would talk about it for ages._

_The old man tipped his hat slightly and stared at the three kids._

"_And now, please accompany this old man for his afternoon walk."_

* * *

><p><strong>Now back to the current:<strong>

The three kids walked along side the old man, tension grew with each step. Then the Hokage spoke.

"The report witness's gave me were very interesting; Strategy, intellect, and power,you demonstrated it all. Very impressing."

"Thank you very much Hokage-sama." Hiretsuna bowed down, hiding his embarrassment at being praised by one such as important as the Hokage.

Staring away into the sky, Naruto and Yasei had nothing to say. Then the Hokage became a slight more serious, "I would like to congratulate you three on your splendid performance. The Twelve Guardians does indeed do fine work."

Swelling slightly in pride, the three brightened considerably. Then Sarutobi deflated their mood, "Alas, there is not much I wanted to tell you about, just by sensing your chakra residue, I can sense how strong you three are, I look forward to seeing you walk onto the road of success."

Walking back to class, Naruto gave a relieved sigh, "That went better than I thought. Thank god nothing big is going to be happening in the next week."

Hearing this, Hiretsuna and Yasei stumbled, "What are you talking about? The Genin Exams are tomorrow, then after that, we're going to find out who our team and sensei is!"

"CRAP!"

**At Class.**

Iruka gave a silent prayer as he watched the class gossip about the top three student's display of power.

"_Naruto, please don't cause more mayhem when you get back, my heart isn't ready for anymore of this!"_

Fortunately, the three didn't, but the rest of the class did.

"How the hell did you learn those jutsus?" Roared Kiba, impressed beyond belief.

"Showoffs!"Screamed most of the Sasuke fanclub.

Holding up their hands indicating they wanted peace and quiet, they walked towards their usual seat in the back, and collapsed down onto it, completely exhausted. _"Oh thank Kami!"_Iruka cried mentally.

Coughing slightly before going into his professional speech, "As you all know, tomorrow is going to be the Genin Exam, which will be the final test to see if you can qualify as a Genin, you are required to do the following three jutsus; Kawarimi, Henge, and BunshinJutsus. Failure in any of these three will result in an immediate failure unless you can show us an alternate jutsu that does nearly the same thing. DISMISSED!"

Rushing out the door before anyone else could question them, Hiretsuna, Yasei and Naruto ran to the safety of the training grounds, where no fangirl or any fellow student would follow them. "We're safe!" Naruto gasped.

"Hey, you three!"

"We're not safe?"

* * *

><p>Approaching the still in disbelief Naruto, one Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy person. "I demand you teach me, if you common peasants do not comply, I will have to report to the council!"<p>

Hiretsuna scoffed, "Go ahead and report us, and see the results."

Eyes narrowing, Sasuke scowled, "Just what is your game Nezuchi?"

Hiretsuna stood up, and walked calmly over to the Uchiha, towering above him, Hiretsuna smiled, "Nothing, I'm just willing to play by your rules. Now why don't you just leave already?"

Throwing a punch at Hiretsuna's gut, he was glad to hear it connect, only to discover his hand had met another hand. "Do not mock me you commoner." He growled.

Pushing the fist away, Hiretsuna walked back to his two friends. "Just get on out of here."

"**Ninja Art: Fire Ball Jutsu!"**

A considerably bigger ball of flame flew out towards the three, and Hiretsuna could tell it had gotten stronger from the heat.

"**Ninja Art: Water Bullet!"**

Spitting out a bullet towards the flame, they both canceled out, and Hiretsuna smiled at Yasei, "Thanks."

"Im not done yet!" Sasuke roared, throwing a couple of shurikens, they flew towards Hiretsuna quicker than the regular untrained eye, but slow enough for the ninja's eye.

Pushing his lady teammate away to dodge the incoming projectiles, Hiretsuna quickly brought out a kunai, and with precise timing, he knocked them back at Sasuke. The Uchiha whipped his head out of the way, and then jumping into the air, he went into a flurry of handseals, ending on the Tiger seal. **"Ninja Art: Flame Lance!"**

Slamming his hands together, he extended them, showing a fire being made in between. He grabbed it, and with a hurl, he threw it at the pitiful boy on the ground.

Hiretsuna hopped away from the impact zone, and he winced as he heard the boom when the lance hit the ground. "For Kami Sake, just leave us alone Uchiha! We don't have the time for your goddam Superiority act!"

"Act? This is no act, you are just a disgusting commoner who doesn't respect the true masters of this village, the Uchiha!"

The blonde haired boy came in at this point, and with a angry grunt, he smashed his fist into the Uchiha's face, sending him back quite a few feet.

"I could care less who you are! If you treat my friends like this, elite or not, I'll smash your face in again! Understand?"

Sasuke scowled, spitting out blood, he stood up. "Don't get so cocky you piece of filth. Bow down to the Uchiha, like all others before you!"

"**Ninja Art:Flame Pike!"**

The anger enhanced boy threw the pike towards at Naruto, and an immediate two others on the left and right side, leaving Naruto little to no room to dodge.

"**Clan Art: Weapon Cloak!"** Naruto howled, stunning his enemy, "Clan? Naruto has always been an orphan, I never even heard of the Uzumaki clan!"

Hiretsuna and Yasei looked on at their friend in small wonder as the fire began to spiral around the Yajisume, giving the weapon a nice tint of red.

Naruto smiled, flexing Yajisume at Sasuke, he beckoned mockingly, "Come on Uchiha-Teme, show this commoner what he does not have!"

That drove Sasuke down the path of insanity, rushing towards him, Sasuke's hands went through a even longer set of seals. This did not go unknown by the three of them.

"_It's already been fifty seals! What the hell is he planning?"_ Hiretsuna wondered.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Clan Art: Pinwheel Flame!"<strong> The Uchiha cackled insanely as fire consumed him, Sharingan ablaze. The fire did not seem to harm him, but the grass near him certainly did not share his protection. "I liked that flower too!" Yasei sighed as she saw a Tulip near the fire turn into instant ashes.

Sasuke began to rush Naruto without stopping his laughter. "Uh, teme? Your laugh is freaking the crap out of me. Could you you know, STOP LAUGHING?" Naruto shouted the last part, leaping to the right to avoid brushing with the ablazed boy.

"**Ninja Art: Great Breakthrough!"** Yasei thrust her hands forward at the fire in hopes of putting it out, but to no avail. The fire roared to hotter temperatures, and Yasei mumbled out one word, "Crap."

Naruto's brain flashed many plans, and each was soundly rejected by the voices in his head; Kyuubi and Inuhoozuki.

"_**A Kage Bunshin wont help you here, why don't you just use a genjutsu here, and then lead him to the lake?"**_ Inuhoozuki suggested.

"_**Don't make me laugh, the accursed Uchiha eyes can see through genjutsu, and kit here doesn't have enough power to make a Genjutsu capable of trapping him yet."**_ Kyuubi snorted.

"_Lake? That's it!"_ Naruto mentally clapped his hands in understanding.

Naruto swerved around, and jumped over Sasuke, "You can get me teme!"

Roaring in anger, Sasuke began to chase him once more. After a few playful escapes, Naruto began to see the lake in sight, Naruto stopped in his tracks, and stood defiantly against the incoming bullet of fire.

Naruto closed his eyes and with a deep breath he began to initiate his plan. Forming a cross with four fingers, Naruto shouted out, **"Ninja Art: Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Fifty clones stood along side him, and each started the same jutsu, **"Clan Art: Full body Cloak!"**

The fire from Sasuke ebbed away from the berserker, and flew towards the clones, once the fire reached the clones, they all gave a howl of pain as it began to burn them, quickly dispelling them to limit the mental strain they would give, Naruto grinned triumphantly at the shocked boy in front of him.

"Not so tough without your fire huh teme? I couldn't even roast marshmallows over that fire!"

"_**Probably because they would have been incernerated or melted into white goop before touching it."**_ Kyuubi inserted his thoughts in, with Inuhoozuki mewing in agreement.

"_Oy, I'm trying to look cool here!" _Naruto shouted to the two.

The Uchiha looked at his body in silent anger and shock, how dare this nobody defend against one of the Uchiha's best assault move? The nerve of commoners!"

"How dare you!" Sasuke roared in extreme anger, and going through once again another long set of hand seals, Naruto panicked, _"Oh no, I don't even want to know what move he's going to do next!"_

"_If a pure assualt move wont do the trick, then a silent one will!"_ Sasuke smiled and praised himself.

"**Clan Art: Fire's Mirage"** Sasuke whispered, dissapearing into the smoke of the still burning grass around him.

Naruto's eyes widened, He hadn't saw that coming.

"_**Clever, by using the smoke around him, he can use a genjutsu that will allow him to blend in with it, and judging by things, it's a S rank Genjutsu, meaning you cant break through this yet."**_ Inuhoozuki laughed, _**"How will you beat this my little furball?"**_

Naruto darted his eyes around, looking for the smallest amount of unnatural movement. "Gah!"

A fist appeared from midair, and socked Naruto right into the face, then the fist dissapeared as quick as it had appeared, with Naruto desperately swinging around in hopes of hitting him.

"And this is why you commoners are below the Uchiha! You have no hopes in beating me." Sasuke's voice whispered from the smoke around him.

Kyuubi could not take it anymore. _**"I have no use for a weak vessel who cannot even handle a weak jutsu coming from a weak clan. It is time you earned your sense of smell!"**_

Red chakra burst through the gates, and through the passage way, eventually ending at a certain part of Naruto's brain.

Gasping in shock, Naruto howled and clutched at his nose, tears of pain came out of his eyes. Falling to the floor, Naruto couldn't hold back his swear riddled sentences, then he caught onto Sasuke's scent.

Quickly snapping his fist out towards a small undetectable heat haze, Naruto was satisfied to hear a small grunt. "Gotcha."

Pushing the arm away, Sasuke fell back, and then he silently went to another spot near Naruto, where he was sure Naruto wouldn't guess, from above.

Jumping upwards to strike, Sasuke grinned as Naruto looked around warily. _"Dobe doesn't have the slightest clue im coming."_

Sasuke prepped his elbow in front of him, ready to do a bomb dive towards the sun kissed boy, already planning on what to say as his victory speech. He got closer and closer towards Naruto's head. Sasuke could already imagine the look on his enemy's face, yes, that would be a priceless moment.

The elbows came closer and closer, and in two seconds, he thought, they will impact. Then one second passed, and Sasuke giddily smiled in victory. The last second was about to pass! Sasuke closed his eyes in satisfaction, oh how sweet victory was!"

* * *

><p>"<strong>CRACK!"<strong>

Sasuke's elbows smashed into Naruto's head, and down he went, without even a word. Sasuke triumphantly stood above the person, "And this is why you commoners should never disobey your superiors. It will lead you to a life of pain!" Kicking the body, Sasuke started to chuckle. The chuckles became a small laugh, and then it grew to insane roars of laughters. As the laughs grew in malice, so did his kicks.

Sasuke rose one foot up into the air, it stood hovering over Naruto's face, and Sasuke began quiet with glee. Naruto's two team mate's mouth fell open in shock, _"Naruto would never fall this easily!"_

The foot came smashing down, imprinting a foot print on Naruto's face, and Sasuke laughed evilly. "Remember this Uzumaki, I don't know where you learned someone else's clan jutsus, but remember this, **ALL** clans bow down to the Uchiha, even the Hyuugas."

"**Poof!"**

The abused body of Naruto dissapeared into smoke, and the two friends smiled to themselves, letting out a long held breath. _"Goddam Naruto, always the dramatic one."_

The still laughing Uchiha had not noticed the dissapearance of the boy, and so he had expected no harm to be done to him once more. Fate had different plans for him however.

Naruto came flying in, and sweeping his leg back, he aimed towards Sasuke's chest. As quiet as a shadow, Naruto let loose his foot, and victoriously smacked Sasuke right on the back. Hurtling forward, the Uchiha gave a yelp of surprise and pain. "You! You dare dirty the Uchiha symbol?" He roared out in indignation when he looked at the spot he was kicked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Better that than anywhere else teme."

Sasuke's Sharingan eyes gleamed in anger as he watched the Uzumaki stand straight, _"And to think my Sharingan didn't see that, he's still a one trick pony though!"_

Rushing him, Sasuke went through handseals that went recognizable to anyone familiar in fire ninjutsu.

"**Ninja Art:Grand Fireball!"**

Naruto stared defiantly at the ball of flame coming closer at him. "Don't you get tired of using the same old fireball jutsu over and over again?"

"**Ninja Art: Fan of flames!"**

"Yea, that's a lot better!" Naruto said after hearing the technique being called. "Woah wait, I changed my mind, that's not better at all!"

Throwing himself out of harm's way, Naruto threw a single kunai at Sasuke. Sasuke slapped the kunai asside, scoffing at the mere thought that the trash in front of him would still try and defy the higher class.

"Enough is enough! Either I bash around your heads, or you will give me your techniques before I kill you!"

To emphasize his impatience, Sasuke took one step forward, glaring at Naruto and his friends.

"Will you comply? Or will I have to bash your heads further in?"

Spitting out some blood onto the floor, Naruto returned the glare, "I choose option three! None of the above!"

Naruto flickered out of sight, but Sasuke responded just as quickly as he dissapeared, slamming a fist into Naruto's stomach, "Too slow!"

Grabbing onto the arm, Naruto grinned, "No, that was a bit too fast for you, look again teme."

Sasuke stared at Naruto in surprise, then his eyes noticed the unusual, "Shadow clone!" He roared.

Agreeing with him, the Naruto he had hit poofed out of existence, and then four other Narutos jumped from the outside onto him. Punch after punch was made, and Sasuke could do nothing but to hold his face to protect it from any injuries. Throwing random punches and kicks, Sasuke was relieved to hear three poofs, opening his eyes triumphantly, Sasuke looked at the last Naruto, "You're the real one, my Sharingan never lies."

Naruto stared back at the red colored eyes in defiance, "And I still don't care!" Naruto formed another clone, and it rushed at the Uchiha in blind anger.

Folding his arms, Sasuke was about to kick the clone when it doved underneath the leg, and leaped back onto Sasuke. **"Ninja Art: Exploding Clone!"**

Sasuke instantaneously paled at the jutsu name, "What the fu-BOOM"

The clone cut him off, and exploded away in a violent gust of smoke. Naruto smiled warily, the jutsu had taken a lot out of him. Hiretsuna and Yasei ran up to their sun kissed ninja friend with concern, "Are you alright Naruto?" Yasei looked around for any serious injury.

Naruto smiled, "Yea! Im perfectly fine! I cant say the same for teme though, I put enough chakra into that jutsu to leave him unconscious for atleast an hour!"

His words were contradicted.

Three shurikens flew out from the smoke, and Naruto pushed aside his two friends, letting the projectiles insert themselves into his flesh. "Naruto!" They both yelled.

Sasuke limped out from the smoke, his left arm had been holding onto a nasty wound on his stomach, while his right arm dangled from the effort of throwing the stars. "How dare you!"

Naruto grimaced as he pulled out the embedded stars with a sickening noise as they departed, "I don't know, I guess I just dare to do the impossible." Naruto made a threatning step towards Sasuke, and then his legs gave way to tiredness.

Sasuke had did the same. Both boys glared at each other with murdering eyes, each daring the other to do something drastic. Still on the floor, Naruto threw one of the stars that had hit him earlier right back at Sasuke. Desperately willing his body to move, Sasuke mentally screamed at his body to obey his brain, but to no avail.

* * *

><p>"You will not touch Sasuke-Kun!" A voice screeched out. A kunai thrown from the side hit the shuriken away, much to Sasuke's secret delight. One Sakura Haruno jumped from the tree top, and glared at the blonde in extreme hatred.<p>

Before any of the three could react, Sakura threw another kunai at Naruto, with intent to kill, consenquences be damned.

Slashing down with his own kunai, Hiretsuna blocked the weapon before it could harm or kill Naruto. His own killer intent belittled Sakura's and the girl could feel her will waning slowly. Inching her way closer and closer to Sasuke, she cried to herself at the state of her idol.

Scratches, burn marks, slash marks, Sasuke had them all, but to Sakura, each injury had seem like it was much much worse. "The nerve!" She screeched, advancing with one foot after another to the similarly hurt Naruto.

"You baka! Hurting Sasuke-kun is taking it just a bit too far for attention!" She continued yelling, two kunais had appeared over the course of time, and it didn't seem like she was going to back down anytime soon.

Her hands clenched the cold metal, and her knuckles whitened, oh how much she would enjoy hurting the three imbeciles in front of her!

Rapidly tossing kunai after kunai after kunai, Sakura screamed with silent frustration as Hiretsuna and Yasei skillfully outmaneuvered them all, tugging along a semi knocked out Naruto along with them. "Stop moving and let me hit you!" Sakura screeched once more.

"Are you crazy? What would make you think we would want to be hit by a bunch of pointy objects that could possibly harm us or kill us?" Yasei muttered loud enough for the pink haired banshee to hear.

Sakura threw her last kunai at the girl, "Guilt!"

Dodging it with a flick of her head, Yasei stared with wonder, "Guilt? What did we do wrong anyways?"

Venomously, Sakura pointed a long pink finger nail at the blonde, "That baka! By hurting Sasuke-kun, he is automatically guilty, as for you two, you're guilty by association!"

"Oh dear Kami." Hiretsuna slapped his head in shock, "Guilt by association? Then can we call you a traitor? For being related to Hanabira Haruno?"

* * *

><p>Instantly, the girl stopped right where she stood, her face had paled significantly, "How do you know about that?"<p>

Hiretsuna waved his hand absent mindly, "I read the bingo book, and it's in the history books."

At this moment, Naruto piped up, "Who's Hanabira Haruno?"

Hiretsuna turned an eye towards his beat up friend, and began to answer, "Hanabira Haruno, a S rank missing ninja who specializes in Genjutsu. Her Genjutsu was so legendary, it was on par with the Kurama Clan, who can make their genjutsus become close to reality. However, one night, she assassinated the one Kurama member, and then eventually five others from the Haruno Clan. Before an warrant for her arrest, she gotten away with many scrolls on genjutsu, and placed Konoha Elder Koharu in critical condition."

"SHUT UP!" Sakura charged at the still talking Hiretsuna, only to have Yasei block her fist with her own palm.

"Why should we? It's only fair isn't it? You badmouth us, and we just point out some facts."

Pulling back to start another barrage of punches, she hissed to the girl, "It's not fair at all! You injured Sasuke-kun! Nothing could ever justify that!"

Yasei met the fist head on with hers, and Sakura cringed at the stab of pain she received. "Your way of logic doesn't even make any sense to any sane person!"

"It makes no sense to you because you're the insane one!" Sakura hollered back.

Kicking Sakura in the side, Yasei smiled with satisfaction when the girl flew into a tree, and even more so when she started to whimper slightly.

"Insane? Me? I am by far the sanest person here."

Hiretsuna sneezed.

Sasuke by this point had healed sufficiently enough to move without a huge pain striking at him at every single movement, sneaking in behind Yasei, Sasuke moved to grab her, and then knock her out.

Only to have Yasei turn around and kick Sasuke in the chest.

Sasuke felt the air in his chest give out before he felt two feet on the back of him. Naruto had placed his soles on his back, and with a grin, Naruto kicked Sasuke back at Yasei.

Yasei sidestepped out of the way, and with a punch to the ribs, she sent Sasuke speeding towards the pink haired girl, and both collided with each other with a thud.

Walking over, Hiretsuna, Naruto and Yasei slapped each other on the back and smiled. It wasn't everyday you got to show up the Uchiha and his fangirl.

Muttering incoherent words to himself, Sasuke disentangled himself from Sakura, much to her displeasure, and began to go through handseals for yet another jutsu.

* * *

><p>"Uchiha-san, your presence is required by Danzo-sama and the Council." An Anbu appeared right in between the Uchiha and Uzumaki, startling both sides.<p>

Regaining composure quickly, Sasuke dusted off his clothes to hide his surprise. "Hn, lead the way."

Walking besides the Uzumaki, Sasuke snarled, "You got off lucky this time commoner, but next time, you better watch your back!"

Emphasizing his words, Sasuke threw a kunai at the tree, where it met with a thwok.

Jumping up, Sakura began to chase after her idol, "Anbu-san, I'm allowed to go as well right?"

The Anbu turned around to meet Sakura, "The Council asked for Uchiha-san _only_, if I were you, now run off before you cause us to be late, let us go Uchiha-san."

"Hn"

The two walked off into the distance, heading towards the huge tower that was the Hokage's Tower.

"Feh, he's probably going to get some more pamper and praise, what a jerk." Naruto rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>From a distance, a figure stood by three other shadows with a small grin. "I never would have thought I would have to teach those kids, how interesting."<p>

One shadow laughed, and tossed a cigarette butt down. "Atleast you got something unpredictable, I got the Shika-Ino-Cho combo again." He grinded the butt to the floor, and stared at the red eyed lady, "And what about you?"

The lady consulted a small piece of paper, "It would seem like I have been chosen to lead a track team consisting of an Aburame, Hyuuga and Inuzukas."

The last figure shrugged his shoulders lazily, "I got a Haruno, the Uchiha, and a Sarurira. I never even heard of that last name, reminds me of Hokage-sama's last name though."

The smoker heartily laughed, "You think that family had some sort with mine?"

"Nothing is definite in the shinobi world Asuma-San."

"Ah Kurenai-san, you might be right there." He laughed once more.

The lazy man pulled out a small orange book, just to earn a glare from Kurenai, "You know how much I hate those books Kakashi-san."

"Ah, my apologies Kurenai-san. It must have slipped my mind."

Putting his hands in his pockets, the first man watched as the three kids from afar whipped out a small snack, or in the blonde's case, a huge feast. "Dear Kami, is that blonde planning to eat all five bowls by himself?"

"Hm?" Asuma stretched his neck over to see the event happening, "Why it would seem so Nishi-san."

The adults stared in small horror, with Kakashi being an exception with him staring lazily into the sky, with not a care in the world.

"That boy actually did eat it all! How big of a glutton is he?" Asuma cried out.

Kurenai squinted her eyes, "It does not seem like there is a genjutsu or anything of the sort on him."

Nishi jumped off the branch and began to walk away, "It doesn't matter either way, whatever floats the boat, will do, sayanora everyone."

"Sayanora." Everyone called back at him. Kakashi too leapt off from the tree and started off into the separate direction, "Might as well go do my own stuff for now."

Kurenai and Asuma sighed as they watched Kakashi run into a green blur, which then began to yell quiet loudly, proclaiming a challenge. "There goes Guy again."

Kurenai gently fell to the floor, and looked back at Asuma, "Im off to prepare my genin test for tomorrow, I will see you soon Asuma-san."

Pulling out a fresh cigarette from the small box on his side, Asuma waved, "Don't get too nervous, it is your first team after all."

Kurenai only walked away, as if she didn't hear it, a few feet later, she stopped, and turned around. "I thank you for all the advice Asuma-san."

Waving the compliment off, Asuma disappeared from the branch, and so began Kurenai's trip back home.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Jutsu Corner<br>****

****Weapon Cloak: A jutsu that envelopes a weapon in an element. The more in tune you are with that element, the stronger and more easily you can control it. If the element is too strong, it will go through the jutsu and harm you.****

******Pinwheel Flame**: A clan art known only to the Uchiha. Enveloping the user in hot fire, the user's speed and power is increased during the jutsu's duration. The more amount of chakra that is input, the hotter the flames.****

****Fire Mirage: A Genjutsu that works only when fire has or had been on the field. The user bends the smoke and heat waves around him, making him invisible to most. Smelling is ineffective as the smoke covers the average sense of smell, heightened senses will be able to sense the user.  
><strong>**

**And that concludes this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and please review on whether you liked it, hated it, or had any questions at all.**

**Author Out.  
><strong>


	10. The Sensei

**Welcome back to another chapter of Zodiac! **

**I could give a bunch of excuses on why I never updated recently, but I won't. I was lazy, and let's leave it at that :3**

**Thanks for bearing with me though, so without further ado, here's Chapter 10!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Previously on Zodiac:<strong>

_Nishi jumped off the branch and began to walk away, "It doesn't matter either way, whatever floats the boat, will do, sayanora everyone."_

_"Sayanora." Everyone called back at him. Kakashi too leapt off from the tree and started off into the separate direction, "Might as well go do my own stuff for now."_

_Kurenai and Asuma sighed as they watched Kakashi run into a green blur, which then began to yell quiet loudly, proclaiming a challenge. "There goes Guy again."_

_Kurenai gently fell to the floor, and looked back at Asuma, "Im off to prepare my genin test for tomorrow, I will see you soon Asuma-san."_

_Pulling out a fresh cigarette from the small box on his side, Asuma waved, "Don't get too nervous, it is your first team after all."_

_Kurenai only walked away, as if she didn't hear it, a few feet later, she stopped, and turned around. "I thank you for all the advice Asuma-san."_

_Waving the compliment off, Asuma disappeared from the branch, and so began Kurenai's trip back home._

* * *

><p><strong>Now back to the current chapter.<strong>

The following day, Naruto was surprisingly the first of the three to be up and waiting their usual spot.

Impatiently pacing back and forth, Naruto could barely keep himself from screaming in frustration, just what was taking them so long?

After several excruciating minutes, Naruto could finally see the two figures coming towards him. "Hiretsuna! Yasei! What the hell took you so long!" Naruto barked at them.

Hiretsuna stared at Naruto curiously, "What are you talking about? Yasei and I are actually a few minutes earlier than we usually are. Maybe your alarm clock broke?"

Looking back into his memories, Naruto pondered this, and then he remembered.

* * *

><p><strong>FlashBack<strong>

_"I can't wait for tomorrow!" Naruto screamed to himself, he flung his pillow at his table, and it knocked over his clock. "Oh crap, I didn't mean to do that."_

_Settling everything back at his proper place, Naruto didn't bother checking to see if there were any problems at all. Bouncing around excitedly, Naruto still couldn't get any less hyper. "Might as well try to get some sleep."_

_Hopping onto his bed, Naruto closed for his eyes, and it wasn't for a long hour before sleepiness could catch him."_

**The present**

"Oh right, I thought something was off when I woke up." Naruto said, hitting his fist into his palm.

Rolling her eyes, Yasei grabbed Naruto, "Whatever, let's just go."

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Naruto's mind<strong>

Inside his head, Inuhoozuki and the Kyuubi debated to each other.

**_"I still say you shouldn't give him a bloodline, he's Kushina's son for Kami's sake!" _**Inuhoozuki exclaimed.

Kyuubi waved his tails, and gave one snort_, **"The Uzumaki's only specialized in sealing, nothing else, I desire a strong container, one that can represent who I am, not a weak coward. Besides, I have already gave him the gift of smelling and I still plan on giving him the other gifts, why not give him an extra present?"**_

_"Then what happens if he becomes arrogant like the Uchiha and does something completely stupid?" _the cat spirit had asked.

**_"Then I can take it back, simple as that."_**Kyuubi closed his eyes, and then opened them. **_"I have already decided what bloodline to give him, and I assure you, he will not walk the Uchiha path. The path Naruto will walk is the one less traveled, but yet leads to a better place."_**

Interested, Inuhoozuki nodded his head for his fellow inhabitant to continue, **_"And when do you plan on giving him it?"_**

**_"Not even going to ask me what bloodline it is?"_** Kyuubi asked.

Inuhoozuki merely batted the cage, **_"If I did ask, I'll be worse off than Naruto last night."_**

The Kyuubi gave a small grin, **_"Ah, well to be honest with you my dear feline, I already gave it to Naruto. It lies in him, just waiting for the right time to activate. Like the Sharingan, his will not happen until a certain requirement has happened."_**

The cat's mind gears turned and turned, trying to wonder when Kyuubi had given the power, when it all clinked. **_"So that time when you gave Naruto his sense of smell, you added the power at the same time?"_**

**_"Correct, now leave me be, granting bloodlines in my current state is quite troublesome, as a certain shinobi would say."_**

Somewhere on a hill, a boy sneezed, "Ah crap, I was having a nice nap too. Whoever's talking to me sure is troublesome." He muttered.

Naruto and his two friends reached the academy, each had a different emotion, Naruto was overly excited, Yasei was worried, and Hiretsuna was being neutral.

Opening the door to their class, they were not surprised to see one heavily bandaged Sasuke Uchiha scowling at them from the back and an equally pissed Sakura Haruno right next to him. Before anyone could retort, Iruka walked in.

"Alright class, sit down."

The ruckus went on.

"SIT DOWN!"

"Now that you're all nice and settled, I'd like to mention today's teams and sensei. When I call your name and what team you are on, please remain seated until your teacher come gets you."

"Now, Team Seven, Yasei Inufu, Hiretsuna Nezuchi, and Naruto Uzumaki! Your team instructor will be Nishi Usaku!"

The three named kids cheered on with excitement, "We're on the same team!" Squealed Yasei, she grabbed Hiretsuna, who was right next to her in a smashing hug, choking him. "Air! Air!" Hiretsuna squawked.

Their third team mate struggled to keep in his happiness, and then a thought occurred into his head. _"Usaku?"_

The door next to Iruka swung open and a young man with two Sais attached to his waist came in. Eyes stuck to him as he looked at the prospective Genins that were to be under his guidance. Glancing at the three's arms respectively, he gestured for them to follow them out of the room, "Come on guys, I already planned out today's plan!" He said cheerfully, already half out of the room.

Naruto exchanged looks with his two friends, and with a small shrug, they hurriedly followed Nishi out.

"Feh, that man was nothing special." Sasuke scoffed, he was impatient for his own team to be announced, and he did not liked to be kept waiting.

* * *

><p>~Outside of the classroom~<p>

"Now then, since your friend Hiretsuna knows about me, I doubt there's a need for introductions." Nishi pointed out offhandedly, staring lazily off into the clouds, Nishi looked as if the clouds were as interesting as the subject they were currently on.

With confused looks, Yasei and Naruto looked at their third team mate for an explanation. Only giving a small breath escape from him, Hiretsuna went into speech mode.

"Nishi Usaku, in the public records, he is just your average Jonin with no particular skill in anything. However in the secret records, he excels in Taijutsu, above average in Ninjutsu, but terrible in Genjutsu."

"Wait wait wait, secret records?" Naruto questioned, "What the hell is that?"

Piping up for Hiretsuna, Yasei answered, "It's the records only the Hokage has access too. In the record holds stuff like the blueprints of Konoha, the self defense mechanisms, and other stuff that could create chaos if they get into the public's hands."

Nishi stood up, and waved his Sai around, "All that stuff is boring though, If you guys are anything like me, I hate sitting down and listening to a bunch of crap people call wisdom."

"I like this guy," Naruto whispered, a smile on his face was breaking out.

"And now since im done with all that boring stuff, let's get down to business, I want to see where you stand and how well you do with each other by doing a small exercise we Jonin like to play with the new shinobi's lovingly called the Bell test."

Surprised faces met with one cheerful face, "I don't see how bad this test can be." Yasei remarked, she could not think of a single way a bell could prove to be a challenge.

Nishi stood up cracking his back, "Let's find out shall we?" Then he was gone, a trail of smoke was the only hint that had told them he had indeed been with him. "Meet me at Training ground thirteen!" He cried over his shoulder.

"Ah…we should probably follow him shouldn't we?" Yasei said. Giving a small nod in agreement, Naruto walked towards the still airborne smoke trail. "It scares me how cheerful he is."

At the training ground.

"You guys are pretty slow, it took you four minutes to get here, that's not good." Nishi gave a look to a small blue alarm clock that stood on top of a rock. Already a look of dissapointment was on his face.

"Mah… the rules of this test is fairly simple, you will have two hours to try and take the three bells away from me, normally, there would be two bells, and a unit would have to figure out the meaning of this test, but the rest of the clans decided to change the test a bit."

Ears perking up, Naruto stared at his sensei. "Change? What exactly was changed?"

Nishi tossed the three bells up into the air, and without looking at Naruto, he grabbed it, "An all out fight to see if you can impress me, starting…..now."

"Poof"

Throwing a smoke bomb on the floor, the smoke instantly covered Nishi, alarming the three shinobis to be.

"Ah crap! We let him get away" Naruto roared, screening the field for any hint for Nishi. The blue haired girl sniffed the air in deep concentration, and with a few more seconds, she smiled. "He's hiding inside the lake."

"Great! Let's just dive in after him! With the three of us, he doesn't stand a chance!" Naruto rushed towards the lake, getting ready a handful of kunais, he was nearing the lake shore when Hiretsuna yanked him back by the collar.

"Hold up Naruto, he's a Jonin for a reason, he's most likely waiting for us to just charge in. I got an idea, you just stay back until I get this whole plan thought out."

Batting away the hand on his jacket, Naruto grunted, "Alright, but this better be good."

Hiretsuna closed his eyes, blind to the world, and there he stood, deep in thought. _"I got three Jutsu's that could probably bring him out, but only two out of the three would most likely work with my plan. Decisions decisions, which to pick?...I got it!"_

His eyes snapped open with a start, "Yasei, when I blast him out of the water, you use a water missile on him, and at the same time, Naruto, you will bombard him with fire darts. However, Naruto, hide a Shadow Clone in the water missile, with the fire darts coming at him from behind, and the water missile from the front, Nishi won't believe there's a double attack."

* * *

><p><strong>Inside the lake<strong>

Nishi sat on the waterbed with a small hollow bamboo pole connected to an earpiece _"Clever, I didn't think the three could do something like this, but it's not good enough to pass."_

Concentrating deeply, Nishi began to feel the Chakras around him, sensing for the moment when the Chakra would spike, _"Whenever a wide spread Jutsu activates, there's always a flicker of chakra in the general direction of the starting point. Let's see where this Jutsu is going to start."_

**Back above**

Hiretsuna cracked his neck in preparation for the casting. "In position you guys," He said.

"Right" Three voices replied back.

Then the hand seals began to flow, Yasei stared in awe as she watched her teammate flow through complicated seals with the least amount of difficulties.

"Geez that's fast." Naruto muttered, his eyes could barely catch up with the blurs that was once called hands.

Then, the hands slammed together with the Ram. **"Ninja Arts: Earth Wave"**

The land behind Hiretsuna rapidly rose into the air, and like a tidal wave, the earth slowly moved towards the lake. Slowly descending towards the lake, Naruto and his teammate's jaw dropped at the height it was reaching, and to their bigger surprise, once it had stopped by the lake edge, it fell faster than it had rose, and with a resounding splash, it fell into the lake.

Right on cue, a smaller splash was heard, and a muddy figure screamed at them, "I just bought this shirt you ass! Water was fine, but _muddy_ water is a big no! **Ninja Arts: Sonic Shock!"** Opening his mouth, Nishi let out an ear splitting screech that instantly made the three kids on the ground clap their hands to their ears in agony.

"This sounds worse than Yasei screaming!" Naruto moaned, fortunately for him, Yasei couldn't hear him, or anything else for that matter.

Dropping down besides Hiretsuna, Nishi brought up his hand for a chop to the neck, only to have Naruto grab his arm. "Keep your goddamn guard up Hiretsuna!" He yelled in annoyance. Quickly escaping from the arm hold, Nishi threw Naruto off of him.

Jumping away from him, Hiretsuna threw three kunais straight at Nishi in self defense. **"Ninja Art: Gale palm!" **With a thrust of his hands, a burst of wind flew from it, and reinforcing the speed of the kunais. With the speed of a lightning bolt, the kunais stabbed into Nishi's arm, earning a grunt of pain, right before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Cursing, Hiretsuna listened quietly for any sudden movement from any direction. Few precious seconds passed by, and then he heard it, _"Down!"_ Hiretsuna jumped into midair, holding his guard up to meet with the incoming attack from the ground.

Just as expected, Nishi popped out from the ground with a kunai in hand, metal clashed with metal as Nishi swung his kunai at Hiretsuna, only to have Yasei pop from the side with a grunt, "Hit him now Naruto!"

From the ground, Naruto roared in response, **"Ninja Arts: Shadow Clone Jutsu!"**

Five perfect clones came into existence, quickly, they assembled into a formation. The original Naruto jumped on each, "Here it comes! Naruto storm!"

Barreling at Nishi, Naruto flailed out his arms, hoping to find a weak spot. Calmly, Nishi blocked the majority of Naruto's blow with his one open hand. Managing to kick Naruto back towards the ground, he grabbed Yasei in the arm and swung her into Hiretsuna, sending the two into the ground.

"You're getting closer to fighting as a team, but it's not quite there yet!" Nishi called out to his three prospective students to be.

Naruto glared at the still airborne man, "If you want teamwork, I'll give you teamwork!" **"Scratch, Inuhoozuki!"**

_"He shortened his invocation chant?"_ Nishi panicked, assuming a defensive stance when the smoke blew in front of the three children. _"I didn't think he'd be able to do that until a year, whats next, one of the other two will be able to do silent invocations?"_

* * *

><p>Then a single claw came flying at him, batting it away, Nishi fired off a kunai at the origins of the claw. <strong>"Ninja Art: Kunai Multiplication!"<strong>

Multiplying into ten, the kunais entered the cloud of smoke. The force of the kunais blew away the smoke, revealing the three all ready for a single attack. **"Ninja Art: Hail pike!"** The lake water condensed quickly, and flew at Nishi in groups of five from below. **"Ninja Art: Earth Impact!" **The ground underneath Hiretsuna softened, slowly dragging him into the earth, and with one more hand seal, the ground sprung back to its original state, springing him up into the sky towards Nishi.

Grabbing one icicle, Nishi slashed at Nishi, while dodging another icicle simultaneously, "Neh, you need to do better than that…Naruto."

The said blonde had swung at Nishi with his Yajisume, piercing his back with it, only to hear the annoying "Poof"

"Substitution Jutsu is a basic jutsu, but it's the most versatile one, you can use it to dodge an incoming attack or to make an attack hit someone else, like so."

Quickly, Hiretsuna swerved his body out of the way to avoid being stabbed, grabbing Naruto's arm; Hiretsuna threw him down at the floor, where Nishi was at fighting with Yasei.

By now, the three were beginning to tire; however, Nishi himself seemed to be fine, despite him doing more rigorous movements than the three combined, "Hey hey, the test is only getting started!" Nishi commented, noticing the pants being given out, reaching behind him, he smiled, "A good Shinobi should always have an Ace, whether it be Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or weaponry. I myself, excel with all Kenjutsu."

They three kids tensed, waiting for the sword to come swinging at them, Yasei being the most cautious. A few precious seconds went by, then it came.

With a quick and fluid movement, the hand that had been on the sheath flew out, and the sword itself flying down at Yasei. Blocking it with her own weapon, **"Hyosetsu!"** She exclaimed, her claw revealing itself once more.

_"Shit, she can do single word invocations as well, better watch out for Hiretsuna then." _Nishi grumbled to himself about the extra work he'd have to put in.

His left hand reached for the sheath, while using the sword to block Naruto's claw.

Hiretsuna stared at the fight with great concentration, _"He's obviously stronger, faster and smarter than us, our only chance is to catch him off guard, but what is there?"_

Yasei and Naruto were quickly getting frustrated, both of their attacks were being countered, and their movements being read, "This is stupid! I should be able to atleast hit you once!" Roared Naruto, he reached into his pouch and retrieved five shurikens, throwing them at Nishi when Yasei managed to kick him towards a tree. Moving his head to dodge the projectiles, he allowed them to pierce the tree, only to notice the variation in the shuriken's path. **"Ninja Art: Magentic pull!"** Hiretsuna held out his kunai, which streamed with electricity, the shurikens thrown by Naruto were pulled back, and Nishi barely dodged them, earning a nick on cheek.

Giving a slight tsk in pain, Nishi smashed his sword handle into Yasei's incoming blow, knocking her back. "Not bad, but can you keep it up? You three look like you're about to collapse any second, while I'm in near perfect condition!"

* * *

><p><strong>"First Stance, Rabbit Float!"<strong>

His left hand grabbed the sheath of his sword, and swung at Naruto's feet faster than Naruto himself could see or react. The result turned into Naruto being tripped over, then Nishi jerked his left arm again, and the sheath bashed into Naruto's side, quickly following up, Nishi turned his sword, so the blunt side face Naruto, and slashed at Naruto. The sword met with deadly accuracy with Naruto's head, and the victim flew back in Hiretsuna's arm.

Moaning in pain, Naruto held his bloody face with one arm, the other holding a kunai discreetly behind his back. _"You and Yasei get him back to the tree where you just used Magnetic pull, and I'll use my Shadow Extension Jutsu to stab him in the back." _Naruto whispered under the context of letting out whimpers of pain.

Barely nodding to acknowledge the orders, Hiretsuna dashed towards his female teammate to relay the orders without letting their enemy figure out the plan. Throwing a fist at Nishi, Hiretsuna let out a barrage of one handed punches while signaling to Yasei behind his back with his other hand.

_"Anbu sign language! Let's see… third..person, that means Naruto. Jutsu… on Nishi…. Back off. They want me to back off from Nishi in order for Naruto to do a Jutsu? Neh, might as well give it a try." _Yasei deduced quickly and silently and retreated back under the pretense of trying to catch her breath.

Noticing the sudden change of movement in Yasei, Nishi spoke up, "And it looks like Yasei is finally out of breath, quite disappointing, if you guys manage to pass, I'll have to put in some hardcore training exercises for Stamina." He chirped sadistically, giving the three a smile.

Hiretsuna ignored his opponent, and with a well placed kick, Nishi was left in front of the same tree. Naruto hurriedly stabbed the floor with three kunais, and whispered out **"Ninja Art: Shadow Extension Jutsu."**

The three kunais sunk under the ground, and Naruto glanced quickly at the tree where Nishi still stood at. A dark shadow opened up on the tree trunk, and out came the three Kunais.

However, Nishi's ninja senses went off, alerting him off future danger, _"When in doubt, jump!" _He flew into the air, but not before one of the kunais pierced him in the right leg. "Shit!" He gasped, his leap fell short, and he landed on the floor, where Yasei and Hiretsuna were waiting for him.

Unleashing a series of slashes and stabs, Yasei used her claw to distract the still recovering Nishi, who used his sword to block the onslaught of metal. Silently creating a clone, Naruto ordered it to sneak around Nishi and grab the bells.

* * *

><p>Clapping his hands, Hiretsuna alerted Nishi of his presence. <strong>"Ninja Art: Head Hunter!"<strong>

Disappearing into the ground, Nishi focused his attention on Yasei's claw and the other half on the tremble of the ground, where Nishi would appear from, completely forgetting about Naruto, which proved to be his downfall.

Hiretsuna burst from the earth right in front of Nishi, forcing him to leap backwards and right into Naruto's clone, who grabbed the bells from his belt. Rushing towards the original, the clone handed the smiling original the three bells, who yelled with happiness.

Nishi jerked his head towards Naruto, who was leaping up and down with the bells jingling joyfully in his hand, and groaned. _"I can't believe I let my guard down this much."_

Hiretsuna and Yasei retreated back to Naruto, and gave each other a slap on the back with smiles bright on their faces. "So I guess that means we passed right Sensei?" Naruto grinned, his hands now on the back of his head.

Nishi let his head dropped in despair, "Yea, I guess that's what I get for going easy on you guys. You did well, but not enough for me to change my training schedule I have in mind." He let out a breath to continue his sentence, "I guess I could always change it though, ten miles in thirty minutes seems to easy for you guys anyways."

Dropping to his knees, Naruto clasped his hands onto his Sensei's feet, "Wait no, I'll be good, don't change it please!" He cried.

Waving his arms in a comedic manner, Nishi laughed, "I was joking, it doesn't matter, I'll take it slow on you guys…For now. But enough of that, Look sharp guys, from now on, we are Team Seven!"

Smiling to each other Nishi continued, "Now why don't I take you guys to dinner, my treat."

Naruto jumped up with a glint in his eye, "Let's go to Ichiraku for Ramen!"

Yasei and Hiretsuna smiled evilly next to each other, fortunately, Nishi didn't notice it, "Sounds good to me, I'm in the mood for some noodles, lead the way guys."

"Yatta!" Naruto whooped, jumping into the air and running towards the Noodle stand, with a small skip in his pace. _"Poor Sensei's wallet is going to be sucked dry by Naruto." _Yasei whispered to Hiretsuna, who merely shrugged, _"Doesn't matter to us, let's just call this Karma, because it can be a bitch at times."_

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading this chapter of Zodiac, once again, I'm sorry for the extremely long delay, but I just lost my spark for writing this particular chapter, I can never describe fighting scenes, which is going to suck, because I still got a whole lot to go.<strong>

**-Deceptioning.**


	11. The Training

**Welcome to a new chapter of Zodiac! I personally don't think this chapter's any good, so bear with me. :)  
><strong>

**Previously on Zodiac:**

* * *

><p><em><span>Waving his arms in a comedic manner, Nishi laughed, <span>__"__I was joking, it doesn__'__t matter, I__'__ll take it slow on you guys__…__For now. But enough of that, Look sharp guys, from now on, we are Team Seven!__"_

_Smiling to each other Nishi continued, __"__Now why don__'__t I take you guys to dinner, my treat.__"_

_Naruto jumped up with a glint in his eye, __"__Let__'__s go to Ichiraku for Ramen!__"_

_Yasei and Hiretsuna smiled evilly next to each other, fortunately, Nishi didn__'__t notice it, __"__Sounds good to me, I__'__m in the mood for some noodles, lead the way guys.__"_

_"__Yatta!__"__ Naruto whooped, jumping into the air and running towards the Noodle stand, with a small skip in his pace. __"__Poor Sensei__'__s wallet is going to be sucked dry by Naruto.__"__ Yasei whispered to Hiretsuna, who merely shrugged, __"__Doesn__'__t matter to us, let__'__s just call this Karma, because it can be a bitch at times.__"_

**Now back to the new chapter.**

* * *

><p>"My, my poor wallet!" Nishi sobbed, examining the now empty contents of his leather pouch, he glared at one happy blond who was viciously eating yet another bowl of ramen. "I'm never going to treat you out ever again." He hissed in clear anger.<p>

"Mah, you're the one that offered Nishi-Sensei." Hiretsuna commented, slurping a single strand of ramen.

"This is by far the worst idea in my life." Nishi whined, staring at Ayame walk to the counter with a fresh bowl of Ramen, he commented, "The sight of this beautiful lady is the only good thing that happened all day." He muttered to himself.

Finally, Naruto laid down the last bowl with a content sigh, "That was a great meal, thanks Sensei!"

Slamming down the last bill, Nishi muttered under his breath, "Don't mention it."

Standing up, the sensei walked towards the entrance of the Ramen stand and turned around, "You guys are dismissed today, and remember that you are now Team Seven!"

Yasei gave a small cheer, and her two team mates gave a bright smile.

Nishi smiled back at them, and walked out the stand, "Remember to report to Field six tomorrow at eight for some training."

"Hai sensei."

"Good, now with that, I'm off, have a good day you three." With a small puff of smoke, he disappeared into the town.

Staring at each other, the three looked at each other, "Well then, I guess I should head home as well, it's I'll be leaving first then." Hirestuna said, standing up, he beckoned for Yasei to follow him out of the stand. "Have fun Naruto!"

A few minutes later, Naruto found himself by his favorite training ground, just meditating; Naruto began to walk straight into his mind.

* * *

><p><strong>In his mind<strong>

**_"_****_So you_****_'_****_re back, and in good time my container, we have much to talk about._****_"_**Kyuubi muttered.

"Hai, is there something wrong fuzzy?" Naruto asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

**_"_****_While you are indeed making some improvements, we feel as if it_****_'_****_s neither good enough or fast enough, so we decided to_****_…_****_boost the training by adjusting you shall we say._****_"_****_ Kyuubi continued._**

Inuhoozuki nodded its head in agreement, **_"One of these said adjustments concerns me, perhaps you have noticed how whenever you used me in combat, it did not feel as fluid as you thought?"_**

Naruto shrugged his head, "I never really thought about it, does it really matter? I mean, i thought all Kitsuko clan members use a Yajisume."

Shaking its head, Inuhoozuki answered, **_"_****_You're forgetting the Gentei state, what you did was merely the starting form of Gentei, you will unlock my Gentei form today, and it does matter, my form is always changing, changing to the form that my new partner requires. The form I am currently in belonged to my last partner: Otonashi Kitsuko. Otonashi was a great man; he had a strong sense of justice, and could never let a crime happen right in front of him go unpunished. However, it was due to his sense of judgment that killed him._****_"_**

"What happened?" Naruto asked, curious of the previous partner of Inuhoozuki.

**_"_****_That is a story for another day, as of now; let us find out what my next form shall be for you._****_"_**

"And how do we do that, just pick out a random weapon and you change into that?" Naruto asked.

Giving a snort, the Kyuubi replied, **_"My, what an idiot you are, If dear Inuhoozuki here did that, you'd be dead quicker."_**

Nodding, Inuhoozuki said, **_"You shall fight me with random weapons of all kinds, and the one that defeats me shall be the one I turn into…starting now."_**

Instantly, Naruto was transported into a clear field inside his mindscape, and all he could see besides land were various weapons around, picking up the closest next to him; a Naginata, he looked around for Inuhoozuki, only to spot it right in front of him.

**_"_****_Begin._****_"_**

* * *

><p>Inuhoozuki morphed into a female human wearing a Chinese robe, a single sword in a sheath laid strapped to her waist. Pulling the sword out, she flashed the blade threateningly at Naruto, <strong><em>"Draw your blade."<em>**

Instantly, Inuhoozuki dashed at him, metal met wood as Naruto defended himself with the Naginata's base. Snapping his wrist, he swung the blade at his enemy; he was surprised to hear a clash of metal, as he knew that the sword he was holding in a stalemate. Glancing at the head of his Naginata, he was met with another sword barring the blade's path.

Slashing upwards, the female sliced through the wood of the Naginata, leaving Naruto to throw the two halves at her, and then diving for the closest weapon next to him.

"A whip? How the hell am i going to use this?" Naruto groaned in disbelief. Rolling to the left, he dodged a slash at the head and swung his weapon at her. Swinging her arm, Inuhoozuki seperated the whip, leaving Naruto to stare at the handle in disappointment, "The whip could had atleast done something more." Naruto grumbled.

Grabbing nun-chucks, Naruto rushed towards her, swinging the nun-chuck wildly. Fortunately, due to Naruto's inexperience with nun-chucks, his attack pattern with it was erratic, allowing for him to land a blow on the stomach. Uttering a small grunt, Inuhoozuki smashed her leg into Naruto's stomach as retaliation. Flipping himself up right, Naruto landed comfortably on a rock, and propelled himself back at her. Twirling the nun-chucks, he flew at her like a spear, a confident look on his hand as he grew closer.

Confidence grew to horror as the woman stabbed at the chain holding the nun-chucks with her swordpoint, effectively stopping the spin Naruto was applying. **_"Never charge recklessly against an opponent you know nothing about." _**She hissed, with her other arm, she raised the sword, ready to chop off Naruto's head.

Quickly, Naruto yanked the chain from the sword and wrapped the nun-chucks around the incoming sword. Pulling with his right arm, he managed to divert the swords path. Planting his feet on the floor, unleashing a round house kick, Naruto widened the distance between the two once more. Noticing the weaponry under his foot, Naruto picked it up cautiously, before giving a curse about his luck. "A freaking staff? What's the worst i can do with this, poke your eye out?"

Naruto ducked under a sword that was the reply to his question. Raising the staff, he readied himself for a strike as Inuhoozuki charged at him, her swords crossed in a X shape. With a hurried drop in his arms, Naruto prayed for one more hit.

Wood met metal, which led to a predictable outcome, as Naruto grabbed the sliced off part of his staff and brandished the two now equal lengths of wood. Dodging in between strikes from the twin blades, Naruto delivered a small blow to the outstretched wrist that held the threatening sword. The blow proved successful, and Naruto grinned with satisfaction to see one sword drop, quickly throwing the stick in his right towards Inuhoozuki's face, Naruto replaced it with the still in midair sword.

Feeling the sword in his hand, Naruto engaged in a sword fight, both fighters not giving an inch. Metal clashed against metal loudly as Naruto and Inuhoozuki traded blows. Seconds felt like minutes to the blond, and when he used his left arm to thrust his remaining part of the staff to the chest, she countered by grabbing the stick with her right, and jerking the arm violently to ensure the release of the weapon from him.

Naruto jumped back, massaging his left arm, he looked around for a weapon he could use to go along with the sword he acquired from his spiritual enemy. Spotting a suitable weapon, Naruto dashed for the item, and picked it up with a smile.

Narrowing her eyes, Inuhoozuki commented, **_"I see you have some knowledge on blades, but do you know how to use the blade in your hand?"_**

Instead of saying anything, Naruto pulsed his chakra into the blade, and with a small expression of shock, Naruto said, "Huh, so my chakra affinity is wind? These chakra swords work just as well as chakra slips."

**_"'Wind isn't the only element that's being shown in the blade, if only he could pay attention_****_more, what's interesting is that instead of two affinities, he has THREE of them, this is indeed very strange."' _**The sentinel being wondered.

From afar, the Nine-Tailed Fox flicked his many tails in impatience, **_"What a stupid container I was sealed into, can this stupid mortal even differentiate between wind and water?_**"

Slashing with the chakra blade, Naruto expected a single stroke of wind to lash out, but to his surprise, he could see the pool of water flowing out from the blade, and at Inuhoozuki. Slashing sideways, Inuhoozuki created a huge ditch in the floor, allowing the water to flow away from her.

Before Naruto could remark on the affinity he had just unleashed, Inuhoozuki dashed towards him, and with a swing, the Chakra blade was knocked away from the still shocked blonde, delivering an uppercut with her left arm, Naruto was sent flying back.

Groaning with pain, Naruto reached to his right to grab the only weapon near him to block a downward stroke from his opponent. Fortunately for him, the weapon was Jutte, which he promptly then kicked Inuhoozuki in the stomach, driving her back. Throwing away the already cracking Jutte, Naruto dashed over to the chakra blade that was thrown away earlier, and picked it up in a hurry.

Turning around, Naruto pulsed the blade with chakra once more, and he held the blade in the air to gather more chakra in the blade. With each passing second, the chakra surrounding the blade grew denser and denser, until finally, Naruto gave a war cry and slashed down at the cautious spirit.

Instead of a small tidal wave, as the Kyuubi and Inuhoozuki was expecting, a much bigger wave flowed from the blade, capable of downing a three story building with ease. **_"Well isn't this surprising, the fool of a container can output more chakra than I thought."_** The Kyuubi flicked his tail in small amusement.

* * *

><p>Acting quickly on her feet, the sentinel being wrapped a dome of earth around her, allowing the tidal wave to pass over her without a problem. Once the tidal wave was over, the earthen dome fell, and she rose, looking at Naruto with a neutral look.<p>

Lifting the remaining sword her hand, she settled into a single stance, ready for a secondary approach from Naruto. With a shout, Naruto charged recklessly at her, sword swinging randomly, in hopes of knocking out her sword. Remaining stationary, she stood, with the sword pointing at Naruto. Right when the Chakra sword's tip was close, her eye's widened in concentration, and struck Naruto's wrist with the back of her katana, promptly knocking it out of his hand, and onto the floor.

Sending a chakra concentrated foot down, she smashed the chakra sword into two, resulting in an unhappy Naruto. _"Okay, so it looks like the Chakra sword isn't for me."_ Retreating back, Naruto glanced around once more for a weapon he could use effectively. Spying a handle, he grabbed it, and unsheathed it from the ground. He looked at the weapon in surprise, "I never saw something like this before." He commented.

Groaning, the Kyuubi let out a breath, **_"I'll need to give this stupid fool more lessons than I thought." _**

Inuhoozuki let out a sigh as well, "That's a Kukiri blade."

Inspecting the weapon, Naruto could make out the hand guard, as well as the weird blade shape. Swinging it around experimentally, Naruto smiled at the ease of the experimental swinging, and then he looked back Inuhoozuki, and dashed. The left arm swung out for a hook, and the right arm trailed with the Kukiri blade, aiming for the midsection. Meeting the Kukiri blade with the sword's metal and the right hook with her left palm. Forcing the hand away, Inuhoozuki sheathed the sword by her side and with a few hand signs; she took a deep breath before expelling out the fire from within. **"Ninja Art: Fire Darts" **

Naruto could feel the heat expanding towards his face, and quickly acting against it, Naruto bent backwards, and sending a leg into her chin, closing the stream of fire that had threatened to burn away his hair.

Unfortunately for Inuhoozuki, the fire had to go somewhere, and with a muffled grunt of annoyance, her mouth steamed with heat as she poured chakra into it to reduce the amount of burns. Gingerly applying a small water jutsu to herself, she glared daggers at Naruto, who could only give a sigh of relief from his escapade from pain.

Keeping his focus on her, Naruto realize the Kukiri blade he had just used against her had broken in half, leaving Naruto with only just the blade, Tossing the handle at her, he charged in, disregarding the fact that while she had a katana still and he was virtually weaponless, Naruto prepared a straight jab at her face with his right hand. Raising her katana to counter, Inuhoozuki looked on with disapproval at this action.

* * *

><p>Then, Naruto stomped with his right foot, ceasing all momentum, and pivoted around, his left leg swerving around for a round house kick to her leg. His attack was successful, and he managed to drive her to the floor momentarily. Following up the roundhouse with a knee kick, Naruto hoped for another blow to the rapidly recovering opponent when the knee was batted away by the butt of Inuhoozuki's Katana.<p>

Quickly standing up, she smashed Naruto to the floor, and raising the katana, she prepared to end the match with a thrust to the chest. Eyes widening, Naruto's brain cranked through multiple ways to try and avoid this, _"Aw crap, what to do, what to do?"_

There was no reachable weapon from the patch of ground where they both laid, and the sword was quickly meeting up with his chest. With a desperate battle cry, Naruto used his leg to kick upwards, hitting Inuhoozuki upwards, but not enough to divert the blade's path, following up, Naruto used the extra amount of area he gained from the kick to drive his right arm into the flat side of the katana, which successfully managed to force the blade to slide into the ground next to Naruto's chest.

Sweeping her legs, Naruto kicked off the ground, gaining some distance, Naruto disregarded the weapons scattered around him, and he stood cautiously against Inuhoozuki, who had started to cast another set of seals. **_"Ninja Art: Great Breakthrough!"_**

A gale of wind flew from her mouth, slicing at Naruto as he shielded himself behind his arms. Eventually, the wind proved to be too strong for him, and he was thrown back into a rock. Gasping in pain from the impact on his back, Naruto jumped behind it to hide from the ongoing gale. A Yajisume resting on the ground next to him met his glance. Pondering on if he should use, his thoughts were cut short as a slice of wind broke part of the rock he was hiding behind. Quickly equipping it, he flipped over the rock to fight once more.

Naruto stared at Inhoozuki's neutral face as he adjusted his weapon, "Now that I think about it, I might as well use the Yajisume only, since it's the only weapon I can really use."

* * *

><p>He threw a single shuriken, and then went into a few hand seals, <strong>"Ninja Arts: Shuriken Shadow Clone!"<strong>

A cloud of smoke covered the shuriken, and then was followed by the massive amounts of corporal projectiles flew at Inuhoozuki. Dodging the projectiles nimbly, while using her sword to fend off some, Inuhoozuki managed to avoid the wave of shurikens, only to meet Naruto's foot in the stomach. Falling to the floor, Inuhoozuki looked up at Naruto with her eyes widening as Naruto drove the Yajisume he was wearing into her stomach, dealing a fatal blow.

The blood flowed out of the wound as the sentinel being nodded its head in approval, and then disappeared away from the mindscape, only to reappear back into its original cat form, sitting next to the amused Kyuubi.

**_"So it looks like even idiotic mortals can fell immortals. How embarrassed you must feel, the other twenty two animal spirits must be horrified." _**The Kyuubi remarked.

**_"Even you should know I went far too easy on him my poor disillusioned fox." _**

Naruto stared at the two bicker back and forth, not daring to interrupt the immortals argument. Insults were hurled back and forth, and at long last, he spoke out, "So uh, what happens now?"

Tails lashed out, striking at the sides of Naruto, quieting him almost instantaneously. Both Kyuubi and Inuhoozuki glared, **_"Why must you mortals be so annoying."_** The Kyuubi grumbled.

Stepping aside, Inuhoozuki swished her tail around in annoyance at her fellow immortal being, **_"It means, you have realized that the Yajisume is the weapon meant for you, and nothing else."_**

"But what about all that '**_my form is always changing_****_' _**crap you were talking about?" Naruto asked indignantly.

**_"I just wanted to see the reaction, what made you think if the whole clan used a Yajisume, you would be different?" _**Inuhoozuki remarked.

Kyuubi snorted, **_"You mortals are conceited, always thinking you're unique."_**

Glaring at both, Naruto had never wanted to get away from the two animals that inhabited his mindscape. "Can we please get on with it? I rather not be in here stuck talking to you guys right now."

Naruto was instantly forced out of his mindscape, and back into the real world. "Oh thank Kami for that, I thought I was going to cry there for a second." Naruto said to himself.

Brushing himself off, Naruto stood up, and stared at the falling sun. "Mah, It's about time to turn in." Stretching his legs, he started the walk home.

* * *

><p><strong>Time Skip to following day.<br>**

The next day at eight, Naruto and his two teammates waited for their Sensei at the training grounds proposed the earlier day, anxiously thinking of what Nishi had meant by "training".

"Neh, Hiretsuna." Naruto said, earning a small nod in reply.

"What do you think Nishi-sensei is going to do with us?" he continued.

Only shrugging, Hiretsuna stared at the sky, watching the clouds float as they pleased.

Standing a few feet away, Yasei slashed away at a tree trunk with her claws, before sending it skyward with a kick, and then slashing it in half by jumping, landing gracefully on the floor. "Probably some teamwork exercise, that's usually the case for new genin teams."

Then the barrage of kunais came. Hiretsuna rolled out of the way to avoid being skewered, instantly sending his own projectiles back where the kunais had originated. Naruto, a bit slow on the uptake, narrowly escaped being struck in the legs by diving behind a tree. Creating four clones, he directed them to follow the shurikens his team mate had thrown; a serious expression adorned his face. Yasei had acted quicker than her two friends, grabbing the kunais that were thrown at her; she threw them back, instantly following up with a jutsu. **"Ninja Arts: Water bullet"**

Kunais, clones and jutsus pierced through the treetop, resulting in more rustling as the attacker jumped out, and landed in front of them. "Hm, Naruto needs some work on keeping his guard up, but I guess you two are passable."

Their teacher, Nishi, was carrying two boxes in each arm, a casual smile on his face, "Are you ready for our training? I hope you guys didn't eat anything, you'll most likely puke it out in the next couple of hours." He commented.

Naruto suddenly realized his seven bowls of ramen he had earlier today. "Bring it out sensei! We can take whatever you got!"

"Good." Nishi dropped the boxes onto the floor, opening one of them; he grabbed two objects, and threw them at Naruto. "Those are chakra weights, with seals courtesy of my clan, the more chakra put in, the heavier it gets. Now, I want you to wear these while tree climbing."

* * *

><p>"Tree climbing? I can do that easily! I don't see how that's training." Naruto argued.<p>

"But, have you tried tree climbing with only just your feet?"

"Only my feet? How would I do that Sensei?"

Nishi walked towards the forest side, and stared up at the tree trunk next to him. "Look at my foot, do you see anything?" He raised his foot, inviting the three to look at his ninja sandals.

"I can see chakra being emitted there, but is that going to allow us to stick onto the tree?" Yasei observed.

"Correct, by using the correct amount of chakra, one can stick onto any object, too much chakra, and you'll end up blasting yourself off from the object you're trying to stick too, and too little chakra won't allow you to stick onto it. The amount of chakra used is different to everyone, since the body weight is different, so the only way is through trial and error, use a kunai to mark your progress, your goal is to get to the top of the tree, got it?"

The three nodded, each putting on chakra weights on all four limbs. "Just how heavy are the weights going to be?" Hiretsuna asked.

Nishi scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well, I'd need to see how far you three can get on your first time, so why don't you try it now."

The three walked to their separate trees, and then, with a small shout form Nishi, they started their climb.

Instantly, Naruto was blasted off the second he placed his foot on the tree, he fell on his head, screaming in pain as he held his head. Yasei had fared little better, several steps up the tree, she could feel her slipping away from the tree, quickly slashing at the tree, she began to fall down towards the ground. Rolling to safety, she noticed Hiretsuna walking up the tree with ease. Reaching the top in a couple of steps, he stared down at his teacher, "So, how much chakra do I put in?"

Motioning for his students to come over, Nishi started to talk, "Hand me your weights please, Naruto, you keep your weights."

With Yasei, he grabbed his ink brush, and dabbled a symbol onto the weight, before handing it back. Yasei received it while noticing a significant increase in its weight. Grabbing Hiretsuna's weights, he drew more complicated symbols, and then letting a burst of chakra flow from him to the weights, he handed them back. Hiretsuna instantly had to hold it with both hands as it nearly slipped from his right hand the first time.

* * *

><p>"Naruto's weights shall stay at ten pounds, Yasei's weights were doubled to 20, and Hiretsuna's weights are now 80 pounds. I want the three of you to continue. Naruto, you try using the smallest amount of chakra you can."<p>

Grunting in annoyance as he put on the increased weights, Hiretsuna tried to step on the tree, only to realize the amount of chakra he had put in earlier was no longer sufficient, as his legs fell down to the floor. Collecting more chakra to his feet, Hiretsuna forced his legs up, and planted his foot onto the tree successfully. Nine steps later, he faltered as the chakra he had gathered at the feet ran out, quickly streaming the same amount from last time, he grinned as he stuck on the tree. It wasn't like before, where he only had to put chakra to his feet once that could last him the fifty steps up the tree. Yasei had been greeted with the same problem, but not as severe. Naruto on the other hand, struggled to not get blasted off, angrily, Naruto cried out to Nishi, "Nishi-Sensei, I'm already using the lowest I can go, how in Kami am I going to do this?"

Nishi replied, "Well, you just have too much chakra, that itself is a blessing and a curse."

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading this chapter, and i'll see you all next time.<strong>

**-Deceptioning  
><strong>


	12. The Mission

** Welcome to another chapter of Zodiac, on the previous Chapter, we left off here:**

_"Naruto's weights shall stay at ten pounds, Yasei's weights were doubled to 20, and Hiretsuna's weights are now 80 pounds. I want the three of you to continue. Naruto, you try using the smallest amount of chakra you can."_

_ Grunting in annoyance as he put on the increased weights, Hiretsuna tried to step on the tree, only to realize the amount of chakra he had put in earlier was no longer sufficient, as his legs fell down to the floor. Collecting more chakra to his feet, Hiretsuna forced his legs up, and planted his foot onto the tree successfully. Nine steps later, he faltered as the chakra he had gathered at the feet ran out, quickly streaming the same amount from last time, he grinned as he stuck on the tree. It wasn't like before, where he only had to put chakra to his feet once that could last him the fifty steps up the tree. Yasei had been greeted with the same problem, but not as severe. Naruto on the other hand, struggled to not get blasted off, angrily, Naruto cried out to Nishi, "Nishi-Sensei, I'm already using the lowest I can go, how in Kami am I going to do this?"_

_Nishi replied, "Well, you just have too much chakra, that itself is a blessing and a curse."_

* * *

><p><strong>Now back to the next Chapter:<strong>

"What do you mean by a blessing and a curse? Isn't having a lot a lot of chakra a good thing?" Naruto asked.

Shaking his head, Nishi started to explain, "While it's good to have a lot of chakra, since you can last longer in fights and use more jutsus longer, but the more chakra you have, the less control you'll have over it. What a person with an average chakra, they can pour in one percent of their chakra to do a bunshin jutsu, but with someone of your chakra capacity, your one percent is the equivalent to their five percent. In short, you're overloading the jutsu with more chakra then you need."

"Now, there's a few ways to deal with this problem; first, you could find an alternative to the Jutsu, but since I'm teaching you this exercise for chakra control, which is _Extremely_ important, there is no alternative. Two, I can limit your chakra, but that's out of the question, and lastly, I can force you to use as little chakra as you can through various means."

Handing Naruto a machine, Nishi called out to Hiretsuna and Yasei, who both were progressing nicely on the tree, "Okay you two, I have a new exercise for you!"

"This Machine here is designed to absorb chakra, and then shoot it out. This is where you two come in play, I will have Naruto here supply the chakra, and you two will dodge the blasts while standing on the trees. A shinobi will have to be able to last long periods of time in any circumstance possible, so this exercise will allow you to fight upside, right side up, sideways, wherever. Are you ready?"

Earning nods in response, Nishi slapped on seals onto Naruto, while Nishi aimed the machine at the two genin standing sideways on a wide tree. Grinning, Nishi pointed the nozzle at the two, "This is only set at level one, so it won't hurt…much."

Without warning, he started blasting chakra bullets at the two. Hiretsuna, who wasn't paying, was slammed in the head by the blast, falling to the floor. Groaning, Hiretsuna stared at Nishi in disbelief, this wasn't what he was expecting! "Are you sure this isthe easiest level? That blast hurt more thanI thought it would."

Nishi smiled sinisterly; after all, it wasn't every day you could torture people while calling it training. "Make no mistake, by the time we're through, you three will be able to walk on anything as if it was the ground, now get back onto that tree."

Clambering on, Hiretsuna eyed the cannon warily, hoping to avoid another hit. _"This is going to be a long training exercise."_He sighed to himself, as he watched Yasei narrowly dodge a blast aimed towards her midsection.

A long hour later, the two fell to the floor, begging for their teacher to stop. Grinning, Nishi turned towards the slightly panting blonde that had powered the cannon. "Now that you're tired, try walking up the tree now."

Gingerly removing the contraption from his body, Naruto focused his chakra to his feet, and with no minor surprise, he walked up the tree with relative ease. "How'd that work?" Naruto exclaimed, quickly adjusting to the at unease he had felt before hand.

Nishi replied in a semi autonomous tone, "It's simple, as the body wears, the less concentrated one becomes as well as the body. Since Chakra is the combination of both mental and physical strength for the most part, your body will output less chakra if tired. Also, as the law of Chakra goes, the more chakra, the less control you have, but the less chakra, the more control you would have."

"In short, since you're tired, you are making less chakra, which helps you control it more." Hiretsuna summed up.

Yasei stared at the sideways Naruto with wonder, and then she came to a thought, "But wait, doesn't that mean Naruto could only do this when he gets tired? I mean, if he's not tired, he's going to be sending out more chakra right?"

Nodding his head, their instructor continued to speak, "That's where the concept of muscle memory comes from. If someone like Naruto were to do this every time he was tired, he would eventually have his muscles remember the correct amount of chakra to send out. Of course, Naruto would need to do this for some time, but it's a start."

Hiretsuna was impressed, and that would be saying something. It wasn't everyday you could see him impressed. "Would there be anything else that you'd like to teach us then sensei?"

Nishi grinned once more, and rummaging his box, he grabbed a set of ankle and wrist weights. Tossing one to Hiretsuna, "You're a smart kid, I'm sure you know how much weights help a person's physical condition."

This time, Yasei piped up, "Yea, my family is big about that, I remember my cousin saying something like how weights would increase our strength, as well as stamina."

Nishi tossed Yasei one, and went off into another explanation, "Adding onto that, as underrated as weights are, they prove to be one of the best ways to condition oneself for most taijutsu styles. These special weights were made be easily adjusted at my convenience."

Strapping on the weights, Hiretsuna gingerly tested it out, "Are you going to flood us with a heavy amount of weight at the get go then?"

Nishi handed Naruto his weights, and gave a small chuckle as he heard Hiretsuna's question. "Of course not, it's best to start small, not bomb rush you until you can't stand. All you'd accomplish by that would be an extremely slow muscle strengthening compared to the small start off. In short, slow and steady wins the race. Your weights are currently at a nice and gentle 10 pounds."

Bringing the three genin to training ground 7, Nishi pointed at the three stumps that were meant for warm-ups. "I want you three to do a small warm-up, let's start with something simple. How about a hundred kicks and punches, and follow it up with a small two mile jog, and finish it with some small katas. I'll even let you guys have an additional ten minutes to finish this, so I expect to see you guys back here in…twenty minutes."

If people had listened closely, they would have heard three voices coming from the training grounds scream out in indignation, "TWENTY MINUTES?"

Their instructor looked at them in surprise, "Why are you so surprised? Surely you don't think you should be cuddled? You are no longer children, but soldiers under the command of the Hokage, now off you go, the clock is ticking."

Naruto stayed put, his arms folded and his mouth pursed together into a frown, "I don't see why we have to do this, it's just warm-ups, let's get onto the cooler ass kicking things already!"

Giving an exasperated sigh, Nishi grabbed Naruto by the neck and with a mighty grunt, he tossed him over to the dummies, "Don't test my patience kid, I didn't make it to Jonin by idle threats. So why don't you just GO!" Sending an additional kunai that nicked Naruto on the face, Nishi gave a small glare at the three, "Got it?"

Knowing it was best not to argue, the two jogged towards Naruto, and gave a long sigh, it would be a long twenty minutes.

* * *

><p><strong>Twenty minutes later<strong>

"Oh good, you guys actually did it, you wouldn't be much of a genin if you couldn't do that. Now, let's get onto the more interesting stuff so get yourself collected and we'll begin." Nishi chirped happily at the three panting genins.

Naruto, who was the least tired of the three, grabbed his fist in pain as he stared at his teacher, "Is it something super cool? Please tell me it's true!" He pleaded.

Pulling herself together and off the ground, Yasei stared at Nishi's concealed hands warily, "I'm guessing you want us to learn from a scroll?" She asked.

"No actually, I'm just going to drill you guys some more today, no point in learning new stuff if your body can't take it. So in other words, for the next couple of hours, you're going to be my personal punching bags."

Instantaneously, the three paled considerably, "Dear Kami," Naruto began, "What did I do to displease you?"

* * *

><p><strong>Afterwards<strong>

"You know, sooner or later you guys are going actually be able to stand. Crawling on the floor isn't exactly a nice place to be." Nishi said while sitting down on a stump.

"Words…cannot describe… how much I… hate you right… now." Yasei panted, grabbing onto another stump for support.

"Yea yea, cry all you want, now go home and get some rest, be sure to get back here at Eight in the morning, I want to get you guys in minimal shape at the least before we do missions."

Hiretsuna gave a groan, "Are we going to do more physical conditioning? This day was already murder on my body."

Giving a small chuckle, Nishi reached into his bag once more, and pulled out three water bottles, "Drink up, it's my special energy blend, and tasty too!"

Each taking a swig, they begrudgingly gave a nod of approval, "This stuff is actually pretty good!" Hiretsuna commented. Taking a longer drink, Hiretsuna gave a content sigh as he put down the drink, "I actually do feel better now." He continued in surprise.

"It should, I did make it myself, and nothing beats my creations!"

Massaging a joint, Naruto grunted, "Yea well, if we're done here, I'm going home. I'm done for today."

His two friends nodded in agreement, "Yea, I feel like I was thrown into a tornado, getting some sleep should make me feel better." Yasei said.

"Alrighty then, you guys are dismissed!" Nishi disappeared, leaving behind a trail of smoke. Looking at each other, the three gave a curt nod, "I guess I'll see you guys later then." Hiretsuna said before turning around to his house.

"I'm going to get something to eat at home, and then I'm just going to hit my bed." Yasei murmured tiredly, slinking homewards bound, she turned around, "Don't be late tomorrow!" She called back to Naruto.

"Don't worry about me!" Naruto called back with a smile, "I'll be here before you guys!"

Naruto was the only one left now, he gave a small groan as he rolled his neck in relief, "I guess I don't want to be too tired for tomorrow, so a good rest would do me some good."

Heading off to the direction of Ichiraku, Naruto smiled at the thought of a nice hot bowl of Ramen, nothing beats the food for the gods after all.

* * *

><p><strong>At Ichiraku<strong>

"Hey Old Man! Another Miso and shrimp bowl please!" Naruto exclaimed, digging into his pork ramen bowl. Not noticing that a group of three coming straight at him.

"Ugh, look how disgusting you are eating like that." Sakura complained, wrinkling her nose. It was bad enough, Naruto thought, that it was someone annoying like Sakura whining to him, but it was another that what she was saying was in fact, true.

"My, it would appear that Whiskers here is not one for table manners." Commented a pale young boy holding an ink brush. "Even when I was starting off painting, my art was never this messy."

Then came the epiphany, _"If Sakura is here, then that means Sasu-"_ "I should had known the dobe would be here, commoner food would only attract commoners." The Uchiha member scoffed, obviously disgusted by the sight of Naruto eating his food hungrily.

"Stuff it for once Teme, I just had an exhausting day, and you three are not making it any better" groaned Naruto, then he blinked, "Hold up, who are _you_?" Naruto pointed his chopsticks at the pale boy in confusion. "I never saw you in our class before."

The boy stashed away his brush, "My name is Sai, the third member of Team Six. I was recently transferred in from another class." He gave a small smile, which to Naruto, looked just as creepy as the looks Sakura would give to Sasuke.

"I see, my name is Naruto Kitsuko, member of Team Seven." Naruto stuck out his hand to give him a shake, only to be met with a blank stare from Sai, "Okay, no shake, that's cool with me." Naruto murmured, "So what brings you three to this food stand?"

Turning his head sideways, "I was told by many classmates that this stand is a good place to eat." Sai said blankly.

"Hn, I would say otherwise, seeing this dobe here makes me lose my appetite." Sasuke turned and began to walk away, with a pink haired teammate in tow. "Wait up Sasuke-kun! I know a place we can eat!"

Giving a sigh of relief, Naruto resumed his nearly cold bowl, "Well, you can still eat here if you want Sai, Ramen is good food, no matter who you are."

"I will take your word for it," Sai smiled, taking a seat, he stared at the menu carefully, and called out to Ayame, "I would like Miso Ramen please."

Turning his head to meet Naruto, he began to speak, "I had also came here because you were here Naruto-san, my two teammates occasionally speak about you in…an interesting manner. Therefore, I had become curious to what kind of a person this Naruto was."

Naruto ears perked up, "What would they say about me?"

"Mm, well, Flat chest would always call you the useless baka and Needle dick had a different word for you every day of the week."

Promptly spitting out the Ramen broth Naruto was drinking; Naruto gave an incredulous look at Sai, "Flat chest and Needle dick? Where did you come up with those names?"

Holding up a book, Sai pointed at a passage inside, "I was told by this book that to make friends, you should give them an affectionate name, is that not right?"

"Not that I care for the two idiots and what they call me, but that's not exactly the right way to make "friends". If anything, it should be an affectionate one, not insulting."

Sai slapped his fist into his palm, "I see, so I should be calling Sakura-san beautiful and Sasuke-san handsome then?"

Instantaneously, Naruto paled, crossing his arms in an X, he cried out, "No no no, that's even worse!"

Then came Ayame with Sai's food, "Why don't you call them Sasuke-san and Sakura-san? Of course, all girls love compliments, so try something to say something positive about her."

Taking the bowl from her, Sai nodded in thanks, "I can see the logic in that, thank you."

Minutes later, a happy Naruto placed down his bowl, "That was great!" He cheered.

Placing his chopsticks down, Sai merely nodded his head, "I can see why you come here now Whiskers. "

Naruto shrugged off the name, and grinned at both Sai and Ayame. "Thanks for the meal!" He said, placing the money on the counter top.

Turning away from the stand, Naruto waved at Sai, "I'll see you around Sai!"

Sai stared off at the retreating figure, before turning back slowly to the counter top, only to see a smiling Ayame. "He's an interesting kid isn't he?" Ayame asked.

He nodded, but before Ayame could continue, Sai stood up, "I thank you for the meal Ayame-san, have a good day." Leaving her with the bill left on the counter.

* * *

><p><strong>Skipping forward to the next day <strong>

Heading towards the training grounds, Naruto noted his two friends running towards him, "Oy Naruto! Nishi-sensei wants us to meet him at the Mission Hall!" Hiretsuna shouted.

Naruto turned around, a grin on his face, "Alright! We get a mission already! I told you guys we were that strong!"

A quick rush to the Hokage Tower later, they were greeted with a smiling Nishi. "I already got a mission planned for us, so let's head on over and get this over with."

Grinning with unhidden excitement, Naruto had to ask, "What mission did we get? I bet it's a cool one!"

That was when the smile on Nishi's face faltered, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's just a plain old transport mission, and we'll be moving packages from one side of the village to the other."

"That actually sounds pretty easy." Yasei commented, "There has to be some catch to this."

Staying quiet, Nishi merely started towards their destination, "You'll see when we get there."

The four quickly reached a building, where the three noticed was labeled, "Construction site". A man walked up to Nishi, "You must be the shinobis I hired! It's nice to meet you four, as said in the mission scroll, these packages we need for construction is just too heavy and too much to transport in a timely fashion."

Nishi smiled politely in return, "If you'll guide us to the packages, we'll get started right away."

"Yes yes, right this way please." The foreman began to walk towards the back of the building, with the four following.

Naruto groaned as he realized the weight of the items, "This must weight a ton!" He whined to his two friends, "It'll take forever for us to carry all of this."

Right in front of the four shinobis, were over fifty boxes of various machinery, including quite a few resources like iron beams. The iron beams themselves would take a couple of trips to finish and the rest of the packages would had taken quite the time.

"Best to start quickly, Naruto, I want you to carry the heavier packages first, and no Shadow Clones. Yasei and Hiretsuna, you two can start with the I-beams."

"Hai sensei." The three replied, and instantly went to work. Grabbing their respective items, the three then stared at their sensei, "Where did you say the other address was?" Yasei asked.

Smiling the way Nishi was smiling was by no standards normal, and the three could tell easily, staring up at the Hokage Mountain, Nishi continued to smile, "Guess."

Hiretsuna paled, "You don't mean the Hokage Mountain? That's already a tiresome climb WITHOUT the packages! Not to mention it's the hottest time of the day IN the summer!"

"Last person to finish their share has to carry my share," Nishi said, pointing towards to quite a big amount of machinery.

With that, the three shot off, leaving behind an amused construction worker, "You ninjas are really something else; this amount of workload would leave my crew dead tired."

Only shrugging in response, Nishi sat down on a pile of I beams, "It'll take them around half an hour per trip, so I expect them to be done in around five hours."

The man just had to ask, "And if they don't make it in five hours?"

The smile on Nishi's face became more demonic, "Then they can look forward to training from hell the next few days. For their sake, they better finish quickly."

* * *

><p><strong>With Naruto, Hiretsuna, and Yasei.<strong>

The three had faired fine for the first two trips, albeit complaints that had slowly watered down from Naruto's mouth. "I'm telling you, this can go faster if I just use shadow clones to carry them up the mountain, while we just walk back down the mountain!"

Yasei's patience with this mission was wearing thin, it had been three hours, and she still hadn't reached her quota. "Alright alright, go ahead and use them, don't blame us if you get in trouble."

Giving a tired smile of victory, Naruto formed the hand seals, "**Ninja technique: Shadow Clone Jutsu**", but as quickly as they appeared, the clones gave a yelp of surprise as they poofed back out of existence. Naruto gave a yelp in pseudo pain, as he retained the memories of the clones. "The clones are being hit by something sharp and small." He murmured, "It's probably Nishi-sensei that's causing this as a way to prevent us from cheating." Hiretsuna commented.

"No use trying to get out of this then, we've got to do this the way he intended." Yasei sighed.

"Or do we?" Hiretsuna murmured, he stared at the surrounding area, "**Ninja technique: Shadow Clone Jutsu**" , Just as soon as the clones appeared, Hiretsuna whipped out his hand to grab the senbons that flew to pierce their necks. Stopping senbon after senbon, Hiretsuna protected his three clones from being destroyed. After a while, the senbon barrage ended, leaving the clones intact, and Hiretsuna satisfied with his analysis.

"Okay, I'm sure Nishi-sensei himself isn't here, but a clone that will periodically shoot at us, I'm sure the point of this little mission is to just provide cover for the clones who will carry our stuff for us. So, we're just going to have to summon some clones to carry, some clones to protect, and I guess some clones to provide scouting if you're a perfectionist."

Yasei pondered for quite some time, "But didn't sensei say to not use Shadow clones?"

Hiretsuna replied instantly, "He said Naruto couldn't use shadow clones, we however, have no limitations. This mission is essentially a cake walk, I don't want to over think this, but if anything, I'd guess sensei would want us to treat this as a transport and protection mission, because I really don't see the point of this mission otherwise because right now, it's extremely pointle-"

A new barrage of senbon, this time aimed at the three originals cut off Hiretsuna's explanation, "Less talking more work!" An annoyed voice rang out, leaving the three sweat dropping. "Yea, I still think this is a pointless mission." Hiretsuna finished, staring warily at the direction of voice. "I'm pretty disappointed that our first mission is something so ordina-Son of a bitch!" He cursed, as a stray senbon flew swiftly to destroy a clone, causing the boxes of materials to come tumbling to the floor.

Quickly summoning more clones to replace the destroyed ones, he secured the boxes while spinning around to finish his speech to his two friends, "I'm going to make this quick, Naruto, you'll go down with Yasei to collect the boxes. Yasei will provide the clones, and you'll just provide the support if needed."

Yasei and Naruto nodded in agreement, and summoned a few clones to stay with Hiretsuna. Giving a quick thumbs up, Naruto flicked his thumb up, "Don't fail us now Hiretsuna! It's our first mission, and if we fail it, I'll give up Ramen!"

"Hurry up and get the rest of the items here then." Hiretsuna gave a glance over to see if their sensei would act out.

* * *

><p><strong> Half an hour later<strong>

Hiretsuna surprisingly accompanied the clones up to the mountain with no incident, and fortunately, neither did his two team mates. "I guess I was over thinking this mission, high expectations doesn't always relate to reality I guess."

Yasei gave a shrug, setting down the final box on the ground, "It doesn't matter, we finished the mission, and that's all we really need to do. Let's hurry up and report back to Nishi-sensei." She said.

"No need, I'm already here."

Turning towards the Iron beam pile, the three noticed their teacher and commissioner sitting down. Both were clearly enjoying a nice cup of tea and rice crackers, "Good work you three, although I did tell Naruto not to use clones, you used a loophole that I found pretty annoying. Here's your pay you three."

"Thank you sensei." The three chorused, "Are we to do anything else today sensei?" Hiretsuna asked.

Nishi shook his head, "Nah, you guys deserve a break, go home, take a shower, I'll call you back for the next mission soon, at any rate, be prepared."

Saluting, Naruto, Hiretsuna, and Yasei began to walk away, leaving behind Nishi and the construction worker behind. The two stared at the retreating figures, and once out of site, the conversation started, "I would assume the three know nothing of the reality of this project?" The foreman asked.

"That is correct, now, onto business, we need this tower built as soon as possible. We will of course need to have these same towers built throughout the village walls, disguised as various buildings. When can I expect this certain tower to be finished?"

The foreman tapped his chin in thought, "If all goes well, it will take two weeks to finish this tower, maybe more if the blueprints prove to be as difficult as I believe. Although after we complete this tower, the other towers should theoretically be easier to build, as experience goes a long way."

The Usaku teacher smiled, this piece of news was certainly more than he had been expecting, "Thank you for your cooperation Umarobi-kun."

"No thanks is necessary, for the wellbeing of Konoha, we fifteen must stay united. The Hokage will be pleased with our little project."

Nishi smiled once more in the span of two minutes, "Calling this project little is like calling you small my dear friend, why don't I treat you out to dinner, Okonomiyaki, your favorite!"

Laughing, the foreman slapped Nishi on the back, "Only you would offer me that, you're on my friend!" Walking away, the two began to catch up on their daily lives, leaving behind a small shadow by the trees.

"_Fifteen? Danzo-sama was right indeed, there is something strange happening, I must report this right away."_

* * *

><p><strong>A few days later<strong>

Naruto laid fuming on a his favorite perch, the tree that stood right next to the training grounds his team occupied, his thoughts occupied by what his least favorite team had said a day ago as they left for their first C ranked mission,

**Flashback**

_"Looks like the Hokage finally recognized my power, of course, with the Copy Cat Ninja Kakashi and the power of the Uchiha, there isn't any doubt this mission will be a success." Said the Uchiha, bragging with complete superiority. His two teammates stood behind him, Sakura stood worshipping Sasuke, while Sai remained silent, although he did appear impatient to get on with the mission._

_ Two slow minutes later,Kakashi came by to pick up his team, much to Naruto's relief. Giving a small jaunty wave, Kakashi led his team along with a seemingly drunk person who called himself Tazuna, a bridge builder. Although on the outside, where Naruto was calm, on the inside, Naruto was quite jealous of Sasuke's team getting a C ranked mission, where as Naruto's team had done only D ranked missions. Not quite the best way to spend his time._

**End Flashback**

Hearing noise, Naruto turned his head, "Is that you Yasei?" He called out. Quickly, he heard a response, "Come on Naruto! We're being called for an emergency mission!" She cried out, "Report to the village gates in half an hour!"

That set Naruto off, quickly running off to his house to get supplies, he couldn't help but feel giddy. Once at home, grabbing a pack to hold his mission supplies, he ran back off to get to the mission in record speed.

"Alright you three, now that we're all assembled, I'll tell you the mission details. This will be a B ranked missi-calm down Naruto. As I was saying, this will be a high risk mission, but I am confident you three will make it out fine. We will be providing back up to Kakashi's cell in Nami no Kuni. His report shows Missing Nin Zabuza Momochi as the main enemy in this mission, but our primary goal is to protect the bridge builder Tazuna. With that said, let's move out!"

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading this chapter of Zodiac, and sorry again for a long update, (Long update doesn't even cut it, there was such a long gap between the last update and this one, it's not even funny. I just felt like playing video games were more fun than writing, but yea.<strong>

**Thanks for reading again.**

**Deceptioning**


End file.
